A President McCain would be bad for the internet?

Parent Cafe
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<p>A President McCain would be bad for the internet for five major reasons:</p>

<p>1.) McCain says he wants to crack down on internet privacy; how’s he going to do that without compromising our privacy? More troubling is that I think he will try to sell it as a way to combat terrorism–yes, some piracy does help fund terrorist groups and other extremists but does internet piracy?</p>

<p>2.) McCain is in favor of promoting tiered networks. That is networks that function at different bandwidths, or speeds. What this would mean is that your internet service provider would have a new way of charging you more without really providing you with better service. In addition, such practices also distract companies from expanding their networks so that more people can have affordable access to the internet.</p>

<p>3.) When it comes to intellectual property disputes, McCain sides with the content industry and not the consumer. His concern for ensuring that copyrights are respected is ironic considering that over the course of this campaign the McCain campaign has be sued by a musician and nearly sued by the RIAA for not receiving proper permission to use content in his ads. Also, there was a flap with FOX News not too long ago because he used footage from a FOX debate in an attack ad without receiving proper permission to do so.</p>

<p>4.) One of his main advisers on this subject is Chuck Fish, an attorney and former Time Warner executive. Shady? I think so.</p>

<p>5.) McCain doesn’t even use the internet on a regular basis so he has little understanding of the implications of the policies that various lobbyists are trying to sell to him; thus, he really has no chance of knowing whether or not he is receiving good advice.</p>

<p>Anyone remember the first time they showed their mom/dad/grandpa/grandma how to use a computer to get on the internet? Would you feel comfortable with him or her making internet policy decisions?</p>

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<p>My initial response is to say that in your first paragraph you move from talking about “privacy” to “piracy”; I don’t think I get your point.</p>

<p>-My son is a musician/song writer, so I understand the need to sort through the increasingly confusing issue of intellectual property disputes as regards the internet. It’s unfortunate, of course, that McCain’s campaign flunkies messed up in using material without proper compensation, etc, but that does not invalidate the need for consideration of these issues. I am sure McCain himself did not make these decisions and it’s not a deal breaker for me;</p>

<p>-as an older adult, I really resent the idea that age alone prevents one from having a good understanding of the internet and it’s proper and appropriate use.</p>

<p>But I doubt that any of my points will make a difference to you…</p>

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<p>I certainly wouldn’t want McCain making policy decisions about the Internet, as it appears he doesn’t use it and doesn’t really understand it. I think the point that he doesn’t use it speaks in part to his age – how many people under 40 don’t use it? – but it’s not because of McCain’s age alone that newjack88 made the point.</p>

<p>I’m all for copyrights being respected, but do not agree with the extension of those rights past a reasonable point, and I think we’ve gone past the “reasonable point.” </p>

<p>For the record, I’m eligible for AARP membership and my husband is a composer.</p>

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<p>“as an older adult, I really resent the idea that age alone prevents one from having a good understanding of the internet and it’s proper and appropriate use.”</p>

<p>I don’t think that this was what was meant by the first post. I think what was meant was: Do you want anyone at all from any age group who has hardly used the internet to create policies regarding the internet? I know it wasn’t worded that way, but, in a lot of cases, it’s an older person who doesn’t have a very good grasp on how to use the internet, what goes on within the internet, etc. I know people of various age groups who aren’t all that internet-savvy, but I would say that a lot of older people I know haven’t embraced today’s technology and wouldn’t know much about the internet or computers in general. I know I wouldn’t feel comfortable letting, for example, my grandfather, who has used the internet only from time to time to fill out necessary paperwork, come up with policies regarding the internet without probably a whole group of people who have used the internet quite a bit. But I would assume that McCain isn’t going to sit down without a group of people and start writing up directives. It’s really not something he can do himself anyway.</p>

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<p>Do you really want to go there? OK…</p>

<p>Do you want anyone who has hardly been involved in the national politics, international affairs, defense policy, and the federal government serving as Commander-in Chief?</p>

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<p>Or do we want one who has been consistently wrong on national politics, international affairs, defense policy, and the federal government? (The saving grace being that he doesn’t remember…)</p>

<p>McCain served as ranking member of the Senate Commerce Committee, regulating the Internet. We see how seriously he took his responsibilities.</p>

<p>He DOES have experience. It is precisely what he has done with that experience that indicates he is unqualified.</p>

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<p>churchmusicmom:</p>

<p>The only way they can crack down on internet piracy is if they have internet service providers monitor how their customers use the internet and report any suspicious behavior such as using a lot of bandwidth to authorities. That’s probably the least invasive way they could go about it, but it’s flawed in that there are a lot of legal things people do on the internet that use a lot of bandwidth such as streaming movies and playing games. A more accurate but more invasive approach they could also take is having ISPs keep track of sites their customers visit and what they download.</p>

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<p>Guess you didn’t vote for Bush, then, hmmm, interesteddad?</p>

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Internet service providers already do this by offereing different tiers of bandwidth on their own network for you so they can charge more for different service levels. </p>

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Of course he should. Copyright laws on software, music, books, etc. need to be upheld or it would have a huge negative impact on many industries.</p>

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He shouldn’t use copyrighted content without permission.</p>

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<p>Then you ought lobby your congressperson to change the law. Otherwise, it is what it is. Asking the courts to ignore it bcos its past your “reasonable point” is not a way to enforce the law.</p>

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<p>“Do you want anyone who has hardly been involved in the national politics, international affairs, defense policy, and the federal government serving as Commander-in Chief?”</p>

<p>Senator John McCain arrived late at his Senate office on the morning of Sept. 11, 2001, just after the first plane hit the World Trade Center. “This is war,” he murmured to his aides. The sound of scrambling fighter planes rattled the windows, sending a tremor of panic through the room.</p>

<p>Within hours, Mr. McCain, the Vietnam War hero and famed straight talker of the 2000 Republican primary, had taken on a new role: the leading advocate of taking the American retaliation against Al Qaeda far beyond Afghanistan. In a marathon of television and radio appearances, Mr. McCain recited a short list of other countries said to support terrorism, invariably including Iraq, Iran and Syria.</p>

<p>“There is a system out there or network, and that network is going to have to be attacked,” Mr. McCain said the next morning on ABC News. “It isn’t just Afghanistan,” he added, on MSNBC. “I don’t think if you got bin Laden tomorrow that the threat has disappeared,” he said on CBS, pointing toward other countries in the Middle East.</p>

<p>Within a month he made clear his priority. “Very obviously Iraq is the first country,” he declared on CNN. By Jan. 2, Mr. McCain was on the aircraft carrier Theodore Roosevelt in the Arabian Sea, yelling to a crowd of sailors and airmen: “Next up, Baghdad!”</p>

<p>As the Times notes, “While pushing to take on Saddam Hussein, Mr. McCain also made arguments and statements that he may no longer wish to recall.” It adds:</p>

<p>He lauded the war planners he would later criticize, including Defense Secretary Donald H. Rumsfeld and Vice President Dick Cheney. (Mr. McCain even volunteered that he would have given the same job to Mr. Cheney.) He urged support for the later-discredited Iraqi exile Ahmad Chalabi’s opposition group, the Iraqi National Congress, and echoed some of its suspect accusations in the national media. And he advanced misleading assertions not only about Mr. Hussein’s supposed weapons programs but also about his possible ties to international terrorists, Al Qaeda and the Sept. 11 attacks.</p>

<p>McCain had adopted the neocon doctrine of rogue-state rollback, and he hammered away at that after 9/11 arguing that the United States should go on the offensive as a warning to any other country that might condone such an attack. “These networks are well-embedded in some of these countries,” Mr. McCain said on Sept. 12, listing Iraq, Iran and Syria as potential targets of United States pressure. “We’re going to have to prove to them that we are very serious, and the price that they will pay will not only be for punishment but also deterrence.”</p>

<p>So much for McCain’s good judgment. It’s wrong even to imply that McCain’s disjointed thoughts amount to a doctrine, unless that doctine is: “Kill them all!” The Times also references McCain’s near-psychotic readiness to blame Iraq even for the 2001 anthrax attacks, concerning which he said on TV: “Some of this anthrax may – and I emphasize may – have come from Iraq.” </p>

<p>Maybe GWB wasn’t so bad afterall? :rolleyes:</p>

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<p>I think some of the copyright laws are simply out of touch with reality. Why should I have to buy multiple copies of Microsoft Office if I want to install it on multiple computers?</p>

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<p>Not in 2000. I thought that, although a weak nominee, Gore had by far the stronger experience. I had no qualms whatsoever about voting for Gore.</p>

<p>I couldn’t vote for John Kerry in 2004. Not after he outed Cheney’s daughter as a political weapon in one of the debates – one of the most morally bankrupt disgusting political ploys I’ve ever seen. I can’t vote for a President with no values whatsoever.</p>

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Isn’t McCain talking about upholding the laws? If people don’t like the laws they can work to get them changed but in the meantime the existing laws should be upheld.</p>

<p>Regarding installing Office on multiple computers, you generally can. Check out the license agreement for your product. If you don’t like the terms of the license, don’t buy the product.</p>

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<p>He made use of her sexual orientation in his debate but did he out her? It was pretty well known. And it was pretty puzzling that the Bush/Cheney administration did not support giving her and her partner the same right as heterosexual couples.</p>

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<p>It was a disgustingly lo-rent move on the part of John Kerry to use her sexual preference as a political gotcha. I would never vote for a dirtbag like that. It is, however, true to form for Democrats to defend that kind of move. Pay lip service to the gay community and then throw them under the bus when it comes down to basic human decency. Typical.</p>

<p>I feel the same way about Barack Hussein Obama accusing Bill and Hillary Clinton of being racists. I wouldn’t vote for him if he were the last man alive on earth.</p>

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<p>Well, I beg to differ on throwing the gay community under the bus. I think the worst move that Clinton was introduce the Don’t Ask Don’t Tell. I know he wanted to reward a community that had supported him. But he was way premature with that move. As a result, the DADT has actually been worse for gays in the military than if he had waited until later.</p>

<p>I don’t know of other democrats who threw gays under the bus. I was sincerely asking a question about outing. Outing is when you disclose something that someone does not want to be made public. Mary Cheney was known to be lesbian and was not ashamed of it. What Kerry was asking was the same acceptance toward other gays in general that Bush and Cheney displayed toward Mary. Was that wrong?
Did Obama accuse the Clinton of being racists or of playing the race card? There’s a difference.
But go ahead and vote for McCain. He’ll get us into several wars before you know it.</p>

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<p>So he supports property and intellectual rights. What a horrible thing…!</p>

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<p>Thank you, but I really wasn’t asking for your permission.</p>

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<p>I know you did not. Not to choose is also to choose.</p>