Dem Platform Boasts of Obama’s Technology Accomplishments

The platform said Democrats are “finding innovative ways to free up wireless spectrum and are building a state-of-the-art nationwide, interoperable, public safety network.” It also touted the administration’s efforts to strengthen rural broadband infrastructure and expand broadband access to “nearly seven million rural Americans.” National Telecommunications Cooperative Association Vice President-Government Affairs Tom Wacker warned in an email statement that “it’s not enough just to talk about how many Americans might get initially connected to broadband.” “Rather, these important investments in rural broadband infrastructure will only pay off for Americans if they are future-proof and sustainable over the long-run,” he said. CEA said in a separate statement it was supportive of the party’s efforts to “update America’s infrastructure and modernize our regulatory framework to facilitate and promote technological innovation, drive economic growth, free-up spectrum to support next generation wireless technologies, support continued U.S. leadership in competitiveness, and help bring the promise of innovation to all Americans.”

"There is a marked difference in the platforms’ relationship to media and tech policy,” said veteran communications lawyer Andrew Schwartzman. “The Republicans are focused on Wall Street’s agenda, and count on self-regulation, except when it comes to pornography. The Democrats look to Silicon Valley; they embrace openness, innovation and technological change, and they see government as having an important role in promoting competition,” he said.

Democrats slammed Republican opposition to greater transparency for political advertising and campaign finance reform. “We know that millions of Americans are struggling to get by, and their voices shouldn’t be drowned out by millions of dollars in secret special-interest lobbying and advertising,” it said. “Mitt Romney’s opposition to commonsense campaign finance is nothing less than support for corporate and special-interest takeovers in our elections.” Republicans in both the House and Senate have steadfastly opposed the DISCLOSE Act and other efforts to reinstate certain campaign finance restrictions.

The Democratic platform shot back at Republican accusations that President Barack Obama’s cybersecurity policies had “failed to curb malicious actions by our adversaries.” On the contrary, Democrats said the administration took “unprecedented steps” to defend America from cyber attacks, including the creation of the first military command dedicated to cybersecurity and conducting a full review of the federal government’s efforts to protect our information and our infrastructure. Furthermore, the platform said the president will “continue to take executive action to strengthen and update our cyber defenses.” Previously John Brennan, the assistant to the president for homeland security and counter-terrorism, suggested that the White House was considering an executive order after the Senate failed to reach a compromise on the Cybersecurity Act (S-3414) (CD Aug 8 p3).

The Democrats’ platform specifically mentioned the administration’s Consumer Privacy Bill of Rights, and Do Not Track initiatives as examples of its commitment to protect consumers’ online privacy. In February, the White House unveiled its proposal for baseline consumer privacy protections on the Internet, though Congress has yet to codify any of these principles into law (CD Feb 24 p8). The GOP party platform did not specifically mention online privacy.

The one “real bright spot” is that both platforms for the first time expressly call out Internet freedom as a significant policy goal, said David Sohn, a general counsel at the Center for Democracy and Technology. Both parties said they support the current multi-stakeholder approach to Internet governance and opposed attempts to impose intergovernmental controls over the Web. Democrats said the administration had built partnerships and successfully negotiated international agreements that support an Internet that is “secure and reliable and that is respectful of U.S. intellectual property, free flow of information, and privacy.” Republicans said that they to would resist “any effort to shift control away from the successful multi-stakeholder approach of Internet governance and toward governance” by international or other intergovernmental organizations. “To have both platforms highlighting Internet freedom really shows that it is an issue that now commands both widespread and bipartisan attention and support,” said Sohn.

Specific to U.S. intellectual property, Democrats said the administration has encouraged voluntary agreements and seizures to minimize infringement of U.S. IP. MPAA Chairman Chris Dodd said in a separate statement he was encouraged that both the GOP and Democrats have now “clearly stated that protecting the free flow of information on the Internet and protecting American innovators are not mutually exclusive goals -- and that in fact, they are equally critical.”

Morality in Media urged Democrats to include stronger enforcement language for federal pornography laws. “It’s time for the Democratic Party to take a major step to protect children and families from the scourge pornography,” said the group’s President Patrick Trueman. “American children are awash in hardcore pornography that is now so prevalent on computers, on smart phones, tablets, and on cable and satellite TV,” said Trueman, who was a former chief of the Child Exploitation and Obscenity Section of the Department of Justice’s Criminal Division.