Blurring Borders » crawford

The Experts Weigh in on John McCain’s Technology Policy

kevindonovan — Fri, 15 Aug 2008 19:35:36 +0000

On Thursday, John McCain, the Republican candidate for President, unveiled his official policy position on technology and innovation. He has come under fire in recent months for his technological illiteracy, but the extent of his wrong-headedness was not clear until his campaign presented the policy. Like many issues, it differs drastically from Barack Obama’s positions which have been public for months. While I have written in the past that getting technology policy right is not just an issue of being in touch with America, it is essential to the modern economy, what have others to say about McCain’s approach?

First, let’s take a look at the Wall Street Journal, who I’ve criticized in the past for confusing the issue at hand. Their article on McCain’s policy lacks real balance and is essentially just rephrasing his policy without substantive critiques. But when you read technology experts, it is clear that they think McCain is woefully incorrect.

David Weinberger, one of the smartest philosophers on the meaning of the Internet, compiles a list of words you won’t find in McCain’s policy. He points out that McCain sees the Internet as a broadcast medium, not an interactive communicative tool.

Harvard computer science professor Harry Lewis says of the policy, “It’s mostly vague, aspirational statements, many of which are in flat contradiction with each other.”

Craig Newmark, founder of craigslist, has been a driving force behind making the net what it is today. He says in reaction to McCain’s positions, “Obama embraces the Internet as a means of cleaning Washington up, but McCain/Bush sees it as a threat which might make them accountable.”

Harold Feld, the tech policy wonk, calls the policy “a joke.”

David Isenberg, a Berkman fellow, says “to McCain, the Internet is yet another technology by which America can compete against the world.”

Former FCC Chairman, Reed Hundt, lists numerous problems.

Wharton Professor Kevin Werbach calls it a “non-plan.”

OneWebDay organizer and ICANN member, Susan Crawford, notes “This isn’t vision. It’s more like a wistful memoir about times gone by.”

The list goes on, but it is important to note that these are the people who understand the Internet better than anyone. Many of them have been fundamentally involved in the development of the Internet. They are on the front lines, so to speak, and McCain is admittedly nowhere near them in expertise. If technology and innovation is something important to you, then the choice seems clear in November.

Update: Lessig weighs in via video.

OneWebDay

kevindonovan — Sat, 26 Jul 2008 04:48:02 +0000

I’ve been cleaning up my saved RSS feeds – a tedious but rewarding task – and came across an inspired speech by Susan Crawford that was delivered at the Freedom to Connect conference. In it, she takes a critical look at the market forces influencing network providers and decides that a crucial element for the future of the generative Internet is the “countervailing power of users/consumers.”

“User power needs to be organized in response to the network operators’ power. It needs to be aggregated and made visible. Without it, we’ll have no votes, no policy changes, and the oligopolists will be able to continue to act with unfettered discretion.”

To this end, Crawford is the founder of OneWebDay which seeks to be an Earth Day for the web. To make manifest the users who can provide a check on oligopolistic ISPs, OneWebDay is soliciting stories about your experience with the Internet.

OneWebDay is September 22nd and there is plenty to check out before then.

In Defense of the Internet

kevindonovan — Fri, 11 Jul 2008 01:30:54 +0000

Continuing the Publius Project this week is an essay by Ronald Deibert of the Citizen Lab at the University of Toronto. In it, he calls for the defense of the global communication environment which faces a growing number of threats from a variety of actors. His involvment with the OpenNet Initiative has made Deibert keenly aware of the role that governments play in censoring the net; from Belarus to Burma governments censor the Internet and as Pakistan’s YouTube snafu shows, these can have broad ramifications. Profit-maximizing telcos are hoping to end net neutrality and, further, he points to the military and intelligence officials taking an interest in the net and is worried by the effect. “[M]otivated by short-term security and cultural concerns, dozens of governments and corporations are carving up, colonizing, and militarizing the once seamless Internet environment.”

Deibert ends the brief essay with a call to reestablish the foundational ethics of the Internet: collaboration, openness, free expression and tinkering. His call to arms is similar to Zittrain’s support of generativity and represents an increased awareness that the halcyon days of the Internet’s youth may be entering a time of great threat from short-sighted exclusionary and competitive behavior by governments and corporations.

In that same vein is Susan Crawford’s brainchild, OneWebDay – an annual day of celebration of the Web. What Earth Day is for the environment, OneWebDay, September 22nd, is for the Web. By focusing on the principles which enable so much creativity and community, OneWebDay is an important tool in defense of the Internet.

[Previous response to the Publius Project]

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