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Barack Obama vs. Mitt Romney On Internet Freedom

These days, science rarely gets discussed by our top government leaders—even Congress's science committee is woefully uninformed when it comes to basic science. And the top presidential candidates barely discuss the most pressing scientific issues...

These days, science rarely gets discussed by our top government leaders—even Congress’s science committee is woefully uninformed when it comes to basic science. And the presidential candidates barely mention the most pressing scientific issues. Even after a summer packed with record-breaking heat, rampant wildfires, and epic drought, climate change is a phantom in the public discourse; occasionally alluded to but seldom actually engaged.

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Which is why the mission of ScienceDebate.org is a noble one—get our public officials to have a more visible conversation about science. The organization tried to get McCain and Obama to hold a science-centric debate in 2008, but neither candidate stepped up. It tried again this year, and again no luck. However, ScienceDebate did reach out to both campaigns with 10 science questions selected by thousands of top educators, engineers, and scientists—and both Romney and Obama responded. Some of the positions—especially Romney’s—are surprisingly thoroughly articulated, so it’s worth a read.

One of the top questions hit on Internet freedom, and the responses are revealing. Here ’tis: “The Internet plays a central role in both our economy and our society. What role, if any, should the federal government play in managing the Internet to ensure its robust social, scientific, and economic role?”

Obama served up some fairly vague boilerplate polito-speak, as he did when Reddit interviewed him the other day:

A free and open Internet is essential component of American society and of the modern economy. I support legislation to protect intellectual property online, but any effort to combat online piracy must not reduce freedom of expression, increase cybersecurity risk, or undermine the dynamic, innovative global Internet. I also believe it is essential that we take steps to strengthen our cybersecurity and ensure that we are guarding against threats to our vital information systems and critical infrastructure, all while preserving Americans’ privacy, data confidentiality, and civil liberties and recognizing the civilian nature of cyberspace.

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And Romney’s more detailed response mimicked the newly minted GOP party platform on internet freedom:

It is not the role of any government to "manage" the Internet. The Internet has flourished precisely because government has so far refrained from regulating this dynamic and essential cornerstone of our economy. I would rely primarily on innovation and market forces, not bureaucrats, to shape the Internet and maximize its economic, social and scientific value. Thanks to the non-governmental multi-stakeholder model, the Internet is — and always has been — open to all ideas and lawful commerce as well as bountiful private investment. Unfortunately, President Obama has chosen to impose government as a central gatekeeper in the broadband economy. His policies interfere with the basic operation of the Internet, create uncertainty, and undermine investors and job creators. Specifically, the FCC's “Net Neutrality” regulation represents an Obama campaign promise fulfilled on behalf of certain special interests, but ultimately a "solution" in search of a problem. The government has now interjected itself in how networks will be constructed and managed, picked winners and losers in the marketplace, and determined how consumers will receive access to tomorrow's new applications and services. The Obama Administration's overreaching has replaced innovators and investors with Washington bureaucrats. In addition to these domestic intrusions, there are also calls for increased international regulation of the Internet through the United Nations. I will oppose any effort to subject the Internet to an unaccountable, innovation-stifling international regulatory regime. Instead, I will clear away barriers to private investment and innovation and curtail needless regulation of the digital economy.

It’s evident that Romney is viewing ‘internet freedom’ through an exclusively economic lens—when he talks about “picking winners and losers” and rails against net neutrality, he’s in essence lamenting the move to regulate services provided by ginormous telecom firms. He doesn’t mention whether or not he agrees with his party’s desire to regulate the internet for content, like gambling and pornography sites. The GOP states that it will work to clamp down on both.

Obama’s position, meanwhile, is similarly muddled—he says he’ll work to “protect intellectual property,” which indicates he’s still sympathetic to the media companies who continue to wage battles against piracy and who also happen to support his campaign. The Democrat’s platform calls for more cybersecurity and a call to expand broadband, both subjects of more talk than action.

Neither candidate has clearly articulated their vision for what a “free and open” internet actually looks like, and chances are neither ever will.