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The Internet Association, a group of internet-related companies including Amazon, Dropbox, Facebook, Google, Netflix, and many others has released a roadmap of policy areas for the incoming administration and Congress.
The roadmap's opening letter begins by congratulating President-elect Trump and goes on to say:
Our country's foundation of digital entrepreneurship flows from policy decisions the United States government made long ago to encourage continued innovation and a vibrant e-commerce marketplace. These policies have allowed the internet industry to flourish in the U.S. and to export our products and services worldwide.
[...] Included with this letter is a roadmap of key policy areas that have allowed the internet to grow, thrive, and ensure its continued success and ability to create jobs throughout our economy. The internet industry looks forward to engaging in an open and productive dialogue. Thank you for your consideration of the following policy priorities.
Most of the positions discussed in the roadmap are exactly the sort of policies we, as technical people, support. They include:
- Intermediary Liability
- Copyright
- Privacy and Data Security
- Trade and Global Internet Policy
- Surveillance Reform
- Patent Reform
- Enhance U.S. STEM and Computer Science Education
(Score: 2, Interesting) by Anonymous Coward on Sunday November 20 2016, @04:38PM
From TF letter:
Most of the positions discussed in the roadmap are exactly the sort of policies that major Internet corporations collecting, storing, and analyzing data on every citizen's moment-by-moment activities, support.
ftfy
BTW the use of the word "innovation" here is exactly how Microsoft used the word during the '90s when it was being accused of crushing competition by bundling features into Windows, and by making unequal contracts with OEMs to favor Microsoft products.
(Score: 1, Troll) by requerdanos on Sunday November 20 2016, @07:49PM
I am no Microsoft fan, but adding more features is a good thing now, and it was at the time.
before the Evil Microsoftians began the Evil of Bundling Features, one of the first things you had to do with a new Windows install was drop to a command prompt, open the command line ftp client, and download a browser. Ah, the good old days.
But then Microsoft in all its Evil bundled a browser that let you just go download one from the publisher's website.
Evil, Evil Bundlers.
(Score: 0) by Anonymous Coward on Sunday November 20 2016, @08:03PM
They bundled IE tightly with the Windows kernel so it couldn't be removed by an OEM.
When European antitrust regulators ordered MS to make a version of Windows that didn't have IE, Steve Ballmer sputtered, "I don't know how to do that".
Now, of course, they're paying for the deliberately bloated architecture and Windows API they crafted during the '90s.
(Score: 2) by requerdanos on Sunday November 20 2016, @08:17PM
Sure, it was a tangled mess, but a tangled mess with more features than before.
Still perfectly simple to add third-party browsers just as easily as any other third-party software of the time.
You don't get to pick and choose how a proprietary software product is built -- that's their nature.
The whining at the time over this fact was pathetic then, and it's pathetic now.
Free software has its problems, but this isn't one of them. This is a problem that proprietary software has, and that is just a part of the fabric of reality. Rail against it if you want, petulant governments and users; reality will still be here when you're done. If that's really your biggest concern, there's plenty of free software you can build however you like.
(Score: 3, Informative) by aristarchus on Sunday November 20 2016, @08:50PM
The whining at the time over this fact was pathetic then, and it's pathetic now.
It is not whining, it is a warning.
Rail against it if you want, petulant governments and users; reality will still be here when you're done.
But once you have been warned, once you realize the true danger of proprietary operating systems, reality will no longer include Micro$oft.
(Score: 0) by Anonymous Coward on Sunday November 20 2016, @09:03PM
It's already happened. When Windows Phone was rolled out 10 or so years ago - I can't remember what they called it back then - everyone from OEMs to mobile phone providers to retailers to bloggers to consumers looked at it and said, Thanks but no thanks. Doesn't suit my needs, but maybe I'll check back later.
Because they remember how badly Microsoft screwed everyone in the entire PC business in the '90s. Payback is a bitch.
(Score: 0) by Anonymous Coward on Sunday November 20 2016, @09:34PM
You can start great business. Ship products over the world. Then keep all those proceeds oversees.
The US gov (that is us) is the first Angel Invester. Giving space, roads, sewers, water systems, telephone lines, railroads, Internet, ...
They want more from us (US) pay the first angel back.