John McCain on Technology:
- Ban Internet Taxes: “We must make a farsighted, robust, and fervent commitment to innovation and new technologies to sustain our global competitiveness, meet our national security challenges.“
- Answering a question on whether he would “police the Internet culturally, such as for predators & pornography”. His answer: “Absolutely not, but I also want to point out this Internet child pornography is a terrible evil. It’s got to be addressed. And everybody knows the way you stop it is go after the money.“
- Answering a question on whether he “Uses Internet to read news & to get donations”. His Answer was: “Not nearly as well as I should. My wife Cindy is a whiz. And when I want to find out what’s on CNN, or The NY Times, or other communist periodicals, I always go to it. But the phenomenal thing about the Internet [is that] we’ve gotten like $7 million in contributions over the Internet. It’s been marvelous. $7 million, because they want reform, they want the government back.“
- Should we spend government funds to address the “digital divide?” His answer: “No, I wouldn’t do it directly, but there’s lots of ways that you can encourage corporations who, in their own self-interest, would want to provide — would receive tax benefits, would receive credit, and many other ways for being involved in the schools and upgrading the quality of the equipment that they have, the quality of the students, and thereby providing a much-needed, well-trained work force.“
- Introduced bill for “No government control over computer encryption” in 1999:
- Legalize development, sale, and use of encryption.
- Prohibits government from requiring an encryption key (solution) or other computer access.
- Prohibits the government from adopting any standard that establishes an encryption standard for use by businesses other than for federal computer systems.
- Prohibits restricting the export of encryption products.
To highlight John McCain’s campaign promises on technology:
- Encourage investment in innovation
- Develop a skilled work force
- Champion open and fair trade
- Reform intellectual property protection
- Keep the Internet and entrepreneurs free of unnecessary regulation
- Ensure a fully connected citizenry
Sources: 1 -2
Barack Obama on Technology:
- On research funding in technology, “We can’t just focus on preserving existing industries. We have to be in the business of encouraging new ones–and that means science, research and technology. For two centuries, America led the world in innovation. But this Administration’s hostility to science has taken a toll. At a time when technology is shaping our future, we devote a smaller and smaller share of our national resources to Research and Development. I’ll double federal funding for basic research, and make the R&D tax credit permanent.“
- Talking on Broadband in heart of inner cities and rural towns, “Let us be the generation that reshapes our economy to compete in the digital age. Let’s set high standards for our schools and give them the resources they need to succeed. Let’s recruit a new army of teachers, and give them better pay and more support in exchange for more accountability. Let’s make college more affordable, and let’s invest in scientific research, and let’s lay down broadband lines through the heart of inner cities and rural towns all across America.“
- Obama co-sponsored ensuring net neutrality: No corporate-tiered Internet (Jan 9, 2007).
- Broadband service providers shall not interfere with the ability of any person to use a broadband service to access or offer any lawful content via the Internet;
- Only prioritize content or services based on the type of content or services and the level of service purchased by the user, without charge for such prioritization.
- Obama sponsored website for competitive federal awards: A bill to strengthen transparency and accountability in Federal spending. Key elements of the bill includes:
- Recipient performance transparency.
- A unique award identifier that identifies each individual award vehicle.
- The date that the financial award was made.
- The agency and department as well as subagencies and suboffices that have authorized the Federal award.
- On creating “Google for government“, he said, “I worked with Tom Coburn, one of the most conservative Republicans, who John already mentioned, to set up what we call Google for Government, which says that we are going to list every dollar of federal spending to make sure that the taxpayer can take a look and see who, in fact, is promoting some of these spending projects that John’s been railing about.“
To highlight Barack Obama’s campaign promises on technology:
- Ensure an open Internet.
- Create a transparent and connected democracy.
- Encourage a modern communications infrastructure.
- Prepare all of our children for a 21st century economy.
- Improve America’s competitiveness.
- Employ science and technology to solve our nation’s most pressing problems.
Sources: 1 -2