Here's how Democrats would handle tech policy in a Hillary White House.

Sorry, tech-policy nerds: People still don’t care about your issues.

That’s one of the conclusions you can draw from Democratic presidential nominee Hillary Clinton’s acceptance speech Thursday night. It also taught us that she supports hampering terrorists’ online propaganda efforts in an unspecified fashion: “We will disrupt their efforts online.” And naturally, it revealed that she doesn’t think much of Republican nominee Donald Trump’s social-media output: “A man you can bait with a tweet is not a man you can trust with nuclear weapons.”

Clinton set out a detailed tech-policy platform last month, but Thursday’s speech didn’t get into its contents. She did, however, nod to the 2016 Democratic platform upfront, saying, “We wrote it together, now let’s make it happen together.”

First, though, let’s unpack that 55-page document. If you were looking for a ringing defense of net neutrality, you’ll like it. If you were hoping for a little bipartisan agreement with the Republican platform posted two weeks ago, you won’t be disappointed. If you were seeking clarity on other issues, you’ll have to wait to see what Clinton says.

Broadband and net neutrality

Everybody complains about their internet connection at some point, so it’s no surprise that broadband gets a mention early on in the platform. Big surprise: The Democrats want you to have more of it and expect wireless to play a key part, including both free WiFi from “anchor institutions” and 5G technology. The document describes 5G as “the next generation wireless service that will not only bring faster internet connections to underserved areas, but will enable the Internet of Things and a host of transformative technologies.”

The Dems will also defend existing net-neutrality regulations, which forbid internet providers from blocking or slowing access to particular websites or serves. These regulations have already survived one court challenge and will likely face others, given Big Telecom’s relentless litigation on this issue. “Democrats support a free and open internet at home and abroad, and will oppose any effort by Republicans to roll back the historic net neutrality rules that the Federal Communications Commission enacted last year,” the platform notes.

Unfortunately, the platform doesn’t offer a view on how the government should view further mergers among telecom and other tech companies, or whether it should seek to curb the powers of existing tech giants.



By Rob Pegoraro.
Full story at Yahoo News.