How Tech-Savvy Will the Next President Be? 715
CorinneI writes "We've got our candidates. We know their positions on the major issues of the day — healthcare, the Iraq war, the economy, yada, yada, yada. But Senators McCain and Obama will also have to be concerned with tech issues. Where do they stand on Net neutrality, patent protection, piracy, broadband, privacy, and H1B visas? Do their campaign positions match up with their voting records and public statements? Here's how they stack up on the big five tech issues of the day."
On a purely I.P. issue let me say (Score:2, Informative)
summary (Score:5, Informative)
McCain - let the markets handle it
Obama - legislate it
Broadband Availability:
McCain - increased access via competition
Obama - re-define 'broadband', move toward universal service, increase availability at schools & libraries
H1B visas:
McCain - increase the number of them
Obama - full immigration overhaul, produce more American-born tech workers, make workers less dependent on their employers
Intellectual Property Protection:
McCain - gov't handles blatant abuses, works against protectionism
Obama - increase cooperation on international standards
Privacy:
McCain - immunity for companies that cooperated with warrentless wiretapping
Obama - expand the FTC to cooperate with international agencies to track cyber-criminals
Re:Does the President have to know about this stuf (Score:3, Informative)
This isn't Insightful.. It's disgusting... (Score:4, Informative)
Here are his income tax returns for the last two years. [johnmccain.com] Maybe you can do the analysis yourself and see if there's something that would support your wild and baseless accusation. You know, because claiming McCain is just trading votes for cash and being corrupt does require a bit of evidence and proof.
I'm waiting...
Re:Nothing to see here folks (Score:5, Informative)
Not quite. You forgot to add the vast sums of money to the equation.
Obama [opensecrets.org]: $4,022,006 (TV/Movies/Music) + $3,060,630 (Computers/Internet) = $7,082,636
McCain [opensecrets.org]: $636,046 (TV/Movies/Music) + $629,315 (Computers/Internet) = $1,265,361
Gee, I wonder who's going to be listening harder to what the RIAA, telcos and other technology sector players have to say...
Re:What about the 2nd? (Score:4, Informative)
Now, if you are somehow saying that I would think that the Black Panthers should have not been allowed to have guns when they were trying to defend themselves against abusive cops, it all boils down to who was breaking the law. The cops were certainly out of line, but I am not convinced the use of deadly force was the correct response there. The time and place to use deadly force is narrowly defined, read "In the Gravest Extreme" for more information. Now, mark me as over-rated and flame bait.
Re:This isn't Insightful.. It's disgusting... (Score:5, Informative)
Opensecrets.org (Score:5, Informative)
I suspect the original poster is trying to imply an illegal link between the candidate and industry. I can't comment if one exists. But what I recommend is you go to Center for Responsive Politics [opensecrets.org] which will tell you where the source of campaign contributions of all presidential candidates.
The Web site aggregates company donations by industrial sector. Thus to see which candidate gets the most money from "Telephone Utilities" you can try clicking on this link: Telephone Utility Totals to Candidates [opensecrets.org] As you can see Sen. McCain has received $345,945 from said utilities while Sen. Obama has received $203,546.
Feel free to draw your own conclusions.
N.B. I should note that the last election fund-raising report was due on 20-May-2008 and that was for donations received in April, so the information on this Web site is usually two months old.
Re:Nothing to see here folks (Score:3, Informative)
I found this interesting:
The quote is from a Washington Post Article [washingtonpost.com]. I am not an Obama supporter, but on Tech issues, he is vastly superior to the other two. His answers in TFA reflect an understanding of the issues. His campaign's skilled use of internet fund raising reflects real savy. His campaign is historic in this regard.
On the plus side, no one could be worse than President Bush has been on Tech issues, so either candidate is bound to be an improvement.
Re:Nothing to see here folks (Score:4, Informative)
McCain: 88 M total raised
calculated from opensecrets.org
Obama : 1.5% (TV/Movies/Music) + 1.1% (Computers/Internet) = 2.6%
McCain : 0.7% (TV/Movies/Music) + 0.7% (Computers/Internet) = 1.5%
I think the percentages kinda make your FUD lose a little steam
Re:This isn't Insightful.. It's disgusting... (Score:2, Informative)
Re:What about the 2nd? (Score:1, Informative)
Liar (Score:4, Informative)
Re:What about the 2nd? (Score:2, Informative)
Re:What about the 2nd? (Score:4, Informative)
Re:Does the President have to know about this stuf (Score:3, Informative)
Re:What about the 2nd? (Score:3, Informative)
Obama invented electricity (Score:4, Informative)
Re:This isn't Insightful.. It's disgusting... (Score:3, Informative)
Big government is what started the problem with telco spying in the first place. As a small government endorser I say sue the f**ckers into oblivion.
Small government types don't like telco monopolies just like they don't like government running the telcos either. Small government types don't like domestic spying (or outside spying except in times of declared war etc.).
Neo-cons might think they're small government but their policies are just as big government, if not more so, than liberal democrats. Neocons just like giant corporate bureaucracies doing the government's dirty work. And they're war-mongers too, but that's beside the point.