Major U.S. political parties avoid tech issues?


Or do they just not understand?
This piece at CNet makes a interesting claim.

Net neutrality became one the hottest political flashpoints in the last year. But in what might seem to be an odd omission, both Republicans and Democrats studiously ignored it this week when touting their technology agendas for 2007.

Also absent from the list of congressional priorities were controversial topics like social-network restrictions, Internet surveillance, data retention, spyware, and laws aimed at regulating Google and its competitors when doing business in China.

Net neutrality alone might seem to deserve a prominent mention. eBay Chief Executive Meg Whitman e-mailed the company's users for the first time to rally their support last year, Web luminary Tim Berners-Lee embraced the idea, and it prompted Google co-founder Sergey Brin to trek to Washington to lobby politicos. It even led to street protests around the country.

But neither Net neutrality nor any of those other key topics make an appearance on either the Democrats' or Republicans' so-called high-tech agendas. House Speaker Nancy Pelosi, a California Democrat, and Sen. Gordon Smith, an Oregon Republican, separately trumpeted the agendas within 24 hours of each other this week.

The Democratic pronunciamento is called The Innovation Agenda (PDF), and it pledges to re-create the kind of "unprecedented technological advances" that put a man on the moon. The Republican counterpart is The Policy Agenda (PDF), and it promises that technology will strengthen America's economy and "improve quality of life."

Why is it when it comes to science and technology, the push is always for more government control, more government direction, and more government regulation?

The free market can do it without government intervention.

— NeoWayland

Posted: Fri - April 27, 2007 at 02:39 PM  Tag


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