Who Are the Tech-Friendly Candidates?

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Who Are the Tech-Friendly Candidates?

Posted on Feb 06, 2008 under Main |

Last week, GamePolitics reported on Yahoo! Games’ recap of where the major presidential candidates stand on video game issues.

Cnet’s Declan McCullagh has now penned an insightful article which outlines how the top candidates view some critical technology issues. While not game-specific, some of these issues will certainly affect gamers in a significant way. Writes McCullagh:

Who would be the most tech-friendly president?

The short answer: it depends. Do you like the idea of Net neutrality so much that you’d hand the Federal Communications Commission the authority to levy open-ended Internet regulations? Do you support pro-fair use changes to copyright law, which many programmers and computer scientists do–but which practically all software and video game companies oppose?

McCullagh sought the candidates’ positions on seven key tech issues: Net neutrality legislation; Telecom spying immunity; DMCA fair use reform; Supports Real ID Act; ISP data retention required; Permanent Net-tax ban; and Increased H1-B visas.

Of these, Net neutrality and DMCA fair use reform are probably of the most immediate interest to gamers, so we’ll look at those.

On Net neutrality, the question posed to the candidates was:

Congress has considered Net neutrality legislation, but it never became law. Do you support the legislation that was re-introduced in 2007 (S 215), which gives the FCC the power to punish “discriminatory” conduct by broadband providers?

Those strongly in favor of Net neutrality: Clinton, Obama
Those opposed: McCain, Paul
“Maybe”: Huckabee
Ducked question: Romney

On DMCA fair use reform, the question posed to the candidates was:

The 1998 Digital Millennium Copyright Act’s section restricting the “circumvention” of copy protection measures is supported by many copyright holders but has been criticized by some technologists as hindering innovation. Would you support changing the DMCA to permit Americans to make a single backup copy of a DVD, Blu-ray Disc DVD, HD DVD, or video game disc they have legally purchased?

Those probably in favor: Obama, Paul
Ducked question: Romney, McCain, Huckabee, Clinton

Read McCullagh’s full article here…

This entry was posted on Wednesday, February 6th, 2008 at 8:45 am and is filed under Politics & Legislation, Video Game Industry/Economics, Game Consumer News, Game Decision 2008, DMCA, Games & the Law. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can leave a response, or trackback from your own site.