LIRNEasia » John McCain

Barack Obama calls for broadband deployment during debate

Chanuka Wattegama — Tue, 30 Sep 2008 03:22:05 +0000

Senator Barack Obama, the Democratic candidate for U.S. president, mentioned broadband rollout as one of his top priorities during a debate Friday evening, bringing applause from several groups promoting universally available broadband as a key part of a turn-around in the U.S. economy.

Obama, debating Senator John McCain, the Republican candidate for president, listed broadband rollout to rural areas as one of his top priorities that he wouldn’t cut when asked about U.S. government budget constraints.

Read the full story in ‘Network World’ here.

Net Neutrality: Why LIRNEasia may not see byte to byte with Barack Obama

Chanuka Wattegama — Tue, 02 Sep 2008 02:25:59 +0000

Barack Obama stands for Net Neutrality while John McCain sternly opposes. Internet should be open space, says Obama, for anyone to use any application of his/her choice without discrimination.

That is like saying the roads are free for anyone to drive any vehicle they like at any time. It sounds good in theory. However, in practice it is a different story.

Can we let the container-trucks to move during peak hours congesting roads? Can we let bullock carts in a high way?

In spite of the tech-savvy image he tries to cultivate, perhaps Obama has not heard about the broadband quality issues. Perhaps he assumes at the zenith of developed world USA does not face bandwidth issues. He is wrong.

Net Neutrality comes with a price tag attached. If Obama still wants to push it he will be making a section of voter base very unsatisfied.

If ‘Net Neutrality’ sounds Greek, you may want to read this short article in Tech Crunch for a beginning.

LIRNEasia’s research on QoSE issues in India and Sri Lanka will shed some light on why we cannot afford Net Neutrality, no matter how much we appriciate Internet fredom.

Stay tuned. We have not finished with Obama (or McCain).

Obama = Broadband; McCain = Dial-up?

Chanuka Wattegama — Wed, 27 Aug 2008 02:05:22 +0000

Leading Democrats on Tuesday attacked the Bush administration’s broadband policy and the technology track record of GOP presidential hopeful John McCain, while leading tech companies pushed for a more tech-savvy and innovative federal government.

“The Obama campaign is the broadband campaign and the McCain campaign is the dial-up campaign,” said Edward Markey, a Massachusetts Democrat and chairman of the House Energy and Commerce subcommittee on telecom and the Internet.

Markey and other members of Congress were on hand at the Democratic National Convention in Denver for several technology panels hosted by the Computer and Communications Industry Association (CCIA) and the Silicon Flatirons Center at the University of Colorado.

“On McCain’s watch, the U.S. fell from third to fifteenth in broadband penetration,” said Julius Genachowski, technology advisor to Democratic presidential hopeful Barack Obama. That is “shocking.”

Genachowski attacked McCain’s record as chairman of the Commerce Committee, a position McCain held from 1997 to 2001 and again from 2003 to 2005. McCain did nothing to spur growth in the technology industry, create jobs, help create an open Internet, or ensure competition, Genachowski said.

Read the full story in PCMag here.