McCain's tech platform opposes 'unnecessary regulation'

John McCain

John McCain, the Republican presidential candidate, has released his technology platform. Among the highlights: antipiracy measures, tax credits, and a formal federal policy of avoiding "unnecessary regulation."

These aren't much different from the responses the Arizona senator gave us during the primary season, but they do expand on what a McCain administration might do in practice.

McCain shares some views--like making the R&D tax credit permanent--with his Democratic rival, Barack Obama. (This is no surprise. For a politician, supporting the R&D tax credit is the tech-policy equivalent of kissing babies.)

The differences are more interesting:

• Obama says he "strongly supports the principle of network neutrality to preserve the benefits of open competition on the Internet." McCain "does not believe in prescriptive regulation like 'Net-neutrality." (Technically the two statements aren't at odds because one politico is talking about broad principles, but it's pretty clear where they're going. Our Voters' Guide has more details.)

• McCain says he "supports efforts to crack down on piracy, both on the Internet and off." Obama doesn't. Instead, the Democrat says "we need to update and reform our copyright" system.

• Free trade is something that McCain seems to support, though sometimes he calls it "fair and open world trade." Obama says, by contrast, he wants "a trade policy that ensures our goods and services are treated fairly in foreign markets."

• McCain would "expand the number of H-1B visas." Obama would not. The closest he comes to lifting the visa cap, a longtime goal of Silicon Valley companies, is to say he favors "comprehensive immigration reform," whatever that means.

[korogers]

Just a note on the voter's guide, it still has Obama as opposed to telco immunity but he ended up voting for that bill.

[Lerianis]

Yeah, he did vote for that bill..... but he basically had his arm twisted by his own party in order to make him vote for that law. Twisted so hard, in fact, that if they had ACTUALLY BEEN DOING IT.... his arm would be pulverized.

[declan00]

Good point. We published it in January before the N.H. primary, which is why Obama's response is what it is.

What we're planning to do is publish a revised one for the general election.

[The_Decider]

Hopefully he will hold these companies and all involved government officials criminally liable.

The telco immunity act does not immunize them from being prosecuted in criminal court.

[skillingssucks]

McCain. Clueless as ever.

[dkottcam]

We do need comprehensive immigration reform. The H-1B visa debate needs to get beyond more or not ... H-1Bs need to change to make them employer independent and a path to citizenship. Without these reforms, you'll have indentured servants (H-1B visa holders who can't move to higher paying jobs) undercutting fair market prices (fair market = employees free to take any job, not tied to one company), then leaving with newly acquired skills ... more at: http://playingdevilsadvocate.com

[Lerianis]

What we really need to do as far as immigration reform is to allow anyone from Mexico and Canada who are citizens of those places to come here, with no visas and no restrictions except that they have to pay American taxes and don't have to pay Mexican taxes.
That would get rid of most of our 'illegal immigration' problems in general, since 90+% of the illegal immigrants are from those two countries.

H-1B's do need reform as well, as you said, though most companies that I have seen treat people on those things pretty darn well while they are here.

[M C]

dkottcam, it almost looks like you're saying we need immigration reform. :)

[gerrrg]

For goodness sakes, the man doesn't understand the Internet.

And he hired Carly to represent.

But he still doesn't get it.

They must all believe, as Ted Stevens, that the internet is a "series of tubes", methinks.

[Lerianis]

Yeah, I have to agree. We do need regulation on the internet, namely the banning of any bandwidth caps, banning of services from certain networks, etc.

[michaelo1966]

Obama's economic advisers are Warren Buffet and Eric Schmidt. McCain has Phil Graham and Carly Fiorina. No other information is needed to illustrate which candidate is more likely to make wise economic decisions.

[Renegade Knight]

Adding a law regulating who can sue the telcoms over illegal wiretapping seems like it goes against the spirit of no un-needed regulations.

[rmva]

C'mon guys! He's older than dirt. Most of this stuff was invented after he reached retirement age. Give him a break!

[Lerianis]

You have a point there. Frankly, I think that anyone over 75 should be BANNED from Congress or serving as President of the United States. They are just too freaking old to realize what the 'new world' is like.
I'd support dropping the age for Congress and President to about 25 years of age or even less than that.

[Perry_Clease]

I am supporting Obama. However, McCain considers me "his friend."

[Dalkorian]

McSHAME = 4 more years of stay the course. Terrorism, Gitmo and torture. Illegal wiretaps run rampant, "enemy combatants" everywhere allowing full dismantling of that pesky "habeas corpus" nonsense. Annoying tree hugger concepts such as "freedom of speech", "freedom of religion" and "freedom from unwarranted searches" will finally be brought down forcefully in the name of the never ending "war on terror". 100 more years in Iraq, just because we can. War with Iran because they have oil too. Extended "friendly" status with Pakistan, who's harboring the terrorist (bin laden) that supposedly started this whole mess to begin with. More citizen abductions (called "arrests"), labeled as "enemy combatants" simply because they visited Pakistan (a "friendly" nation, remember) sometime in the last decade and shipped to foreign soil (Gitmo?) to be tortured for fun. $10/gallon gas to make sure those poor Exxon/Mobile executives get "decent" retirement packages exceeding $50 BILLION.

We can do better. We MUST do better. A vote for mcSHAME is a treasonous act against the American people!

[Lerianis]

I have to agree totally. Anyone who votes for McSame (I call him that as well) is a traitor to the American people and the Constitution of the United States, and should be treated as such.

[The_Decider]

Anti-piracy measures certainly qualifies as unnecessary regulation. Since when is it the governments job to do the work of a corporation?

McSame talks through his bulbous ass too much and doesn't seem to understand even simple concepts. A doddering fool only scratches the surface of explaining how clueless this guy is.

[rashinal]

thank you
count me in on this, too

but there's SOOOOO much more, more than anyone could possibly list here.
all in the interest of removing the middle class, the constitution, democracy, justice and all those other "liberal" concepts.

[sanenazok]

Well both candidates are being extremely predictable. Everyone else complained about McCain, but nobody mentioned the problem with Obama: he's going to be *very* busy his first term. It looks like his platform is to change just about everything. Just look at today's list:

1. Network Neutrality: CHANGE

2. Copyright: CHANGE

3. Trade Relations: CHANGE

4. Immigration: CHANGE, or better yet comprehensive change.

Sounds like BS to me, but then again I may be inoculated to it being from Chicago where he's been busy changing things for the last however-long. If Obama gets elected he'll need a new department created. That could be a good thing, for example Carter created the Department of Energy which has served well. In Obama's case he would need to create the department of "si se puede"ing. It would gather statistics on how well the great leap forward is progressing!

[aljun81]

i read somewhere that John McCain does not know how to use a computer. He apparently has an assistant to help him use one. Please confirm if this is true.

[jaguar41]

You call this opposing piracy??

Mccain is advertising every day on this Israeli pirated website which is showing the new Batman still in Theaters!

He is a very old joke, that will dchange his skin to get elected...

http://www.motv-il.com/00stage7/afel.html

[kwhsy82]

I've decided I'm in favor of unnecessary regulation.

[DigitalFrog]

Instead of the choice being between the lesser of two evils, it is rapidly becoming a choice between the evils of two lessers.

[Mikeatle]

Interesting. I sort of get the feeling CNET favors McCain. Hmmm. I wonder why...

[j_a_s_p_e_r]

hahahaha, nice one...

[shaneshack]

As much as I am proud for Barak Obama becoming the first black nominee for president of a major party, I won't vote for him and neither should any of you. Forget all this pie in the sky legislation he wants to enact. He will raise our taxes in record numbers. I don't care what he says about $150,000 being rich. We don't have to worry about what he thinks as much as what his democrat colleagues in Congress think. They will tax us to death, turn us into a nanny state, and he'll just sign it into law straight away. Our country will be irreparably harmed by an Obama presidency. Yeah, he'll get us out of Iraq, which he should. But while a big issue, Iraq is only one issue. I don't want to trash the rest of the country just so we can get out of Iraq asap.

[Lerianis]

No, he will NOT harm this country. Frankly, our world is changing, and the Repukians have done their best to DESTROY this country in the past 8 years that Bush has been in office. We need a change, and I think that Obama would be MUCH better than McSame in office.
Oh, and as to that $150K being rich statement you attribute to Obama..... he has NEVER said anything like that, ever.

[sanenazok]

I think you're right on the taxes, but wrong on Iraq and harming the country. Regarding Iraq, Obama no longer supports an immediate pullout as he once did. Now it's on to responsible schedules and such stuff. In other words, he'll do what the commanders want to do (as long as there's relative calm so there's no public outcry). Also, I don't think Obama will harm the country that much, he'll achieve next to nothing and the democrats will be booted form Congress in 2010. Washington will be run just like Illinois is - controlled by democrats who self-destruct since each competes to be the biggest *******. Maybe we'll get a budget in Illinois soon, but probably not a good one. Surely there'll be no money for public transit even though now is a once-in-a-generation chance to actually fund it. That's democrat rule for you!

[DaveListerDwarfer]

Regulations on business were designed to help defend the average citizen from the influence of companies that had more resource to help themselves than the individual does. As far as 'regulation' goes, enforcing the regulation of net neutrality actually ensures less regulation of the individual by allowing them to engage in any type of network traffic they wish from skype to file sharing or whatever they'd like. Otherwise the corporations would see fit to shape away 'offending traffic' they didn't like or that they felt competed with them.

[j_a_s_p_e_r]

There is a hurricane over land and THIS is the lead story here? Say what you want about John McCain or Bush but they did the right thing not attending the opening of the convention and making sure history is not repeated.

[j_a_s_p_e_r]

Net neutrality is nothing more than a buzz word, a solution looking for a problem. Look at who is pushing for it (Content providers) and who is pushing against it (Service and Infrastructure Providers). Net neutrality solves NOTHING, we need a new leap in technology not legislation.