Technology Voters' Guide: Ron Paul

Source Article
Iraq, immigration, taxes, and health care probably have been the four most pressing topics of the 2008 presidential campaign. Technology has made nary an appearance.

Sure, there have been the YouTube-ified debates, MySpace.com polls, record-setting fund-raising efforts, and the now-obligatory Google office visits.

But knowing where the candidates stand on high-tech topics like digital copyright, surveillance, and Internet taxes can be revealing, which is why we've put together this 2008 Technology Voters' Guide.

In late November, we sent questionnaires to the top candidates--measured by funds raised and poll standings--from each major party. We asked each the same 10 questions.

Not all candidates chose to respond: Republicans Mitt Romney, Mike Huckabee, Rudy Giuliani, and Fred Thompson rebuffed our requests, as did Democrats Joe Biden and Bill Richardson. In all such cases, we made repeated efforts to try to convince them to change their minds.

This is very interesting to me, and Ron Paul was the main one who took the time, and wanted to do this technological questionnaire.

The Questionnaire is on the article. However I will quote a few things on the next post, because I found a few little things interesting that I did not know before, and never thought of, and found out something we should know.

Source Article
The Bush administration has supported legally requiring Internet service providers, and perhaps search engines and social-networking Web sites as well, to keep logs on who their users are and what they do. Do you support federal legislation, such as HR 837, to mandate data retention?
Paul: No, I do not. Such legislation poses a serious risk to privacy. The federal government has no right tracking who uses the Internet and why they are doing so.

Congress has considered Net neutrality legislation, but it never became law. Do you still support the legislation that was re-introduced in 2007 (S 215), which gives the FCC the power to punish "discriminatory" conduct by broadband providers?
Paul: No. Net neutrality legislation will hamper the development of new Internet services and harm consumers in the long run. The best way to address the concerns of proponents of Net neutrality is to remove government-imposed barriers to entry into the Internet provider market.

Do you support enacting federal laws providing for any or all of the following: a) a permanent research-and-development tax credit, b) a permanent moratorium on Internet access taxes, and c) an increase in the current limits on H-1B visas?
Paul: I support either abolishing or greatly reducing as many taxes as possible, and placing money back into the hands of individuals and businesses. Therefore, I would support a permanent research-and-development tax credit, as well as a permanent moratorium on Internet access taxes.

Ron Paul in my opinion needs to get the presidential election, he has great answers. He respects our rights to the use of technology and everything else. I can't wait to see more answers from other presidential candidates.



[edit on 16-1-2008 by jca2005]

By the way this is something I did not know about AT&T:

Source ArticleTelecommunications companies such as AT&T have been accused in court of opening their networks to the government in violation of federal privacy law. Do you support giving them retroactive immunity for any illicit cooperation with intelligence agencies or law enforcement, which was proposed by the Senate Intelligence Committee this fall (S 2248)?
Paul: No. I would in no way support giving them immunity for breaking privacy laws. One of the legitimate functions of the federal government is to protect the privacy of its citizens, not invade it. If private companies cooperated with the federal government in violating the Fourth Amendment rights of their customers, they should be held accountable.

I started to get an account with them now I am glad to have stayed with sprint, however that's a different story to another topic. But I am glad on Dr. Paul's answer.

[edit on 16-1-2008 by jca2005]

You have some good topics there
but my biggest concern was not mentioned

The Economy

Originally posted by SimonSays
You have some good topics there
but my biggest concern was not mentioned

The Economy

Well here is an article about Ron Paul's thoughts on economy. I already know what he would do. Im sure its here somewhere on the forums or check out, www.ronpaul2008.com he tells you exactly what he would like done. However view this article Monetary Policy and State of the Economy

jca

LOL

I already knew RP's stance on the economy
I just stated that you didn't mention it

great thread the more i learn about paul the more i like him, who knew he was so up to date on technology issues.