Barack Obama’s victory last night has far-reaching fiscal, social and military implications, all of which are familiar to anyone who kept at least one eye open during any of this year’s debates. But what do four more years mean for tech?
While Obama hasn’t indicated that he’ll dramatically change course on any of his technological policies and initiatives, it’s useful to look a little closer at the ones he’s got. Here’s what we can expect in the context of the United States.
Free Internet
One of the biggest threats a Romney presidency posed was to net neutrality. In his mind, broadband providers should be wildly unregulated, able to block access to competitors if it provides a competitive advantage, or if they just feel like it. Obama, meanwhile, has been a staunch net neutrality defender since his time in the US Senate. It hasn’t been high on his priority list — the FCC’s existing Open Internet rules could use some fine-tuning — but at least we know he won’t roll back the gains that have been made.
Fast Internet
Obama promised years ago to get broadband access “to every community in America”. He’s gotten closer than you’d think. According to PolitiFact, about 95 per cent of US homes had broadband access (although only 67 per cent subscribe). Obama has also been active in freeing up wireless spectrum and is well on his way to doubling the amount available for broadband by 2020.
This won’t matter for many of you reading this now, but it’s hugely important for rural communities and schools across the country. You can argue whether broadband internet is a privilege or a right; either way, it should at least be an option.
Health Care Records, Digitised
Did you know that $US20 billion of stimulus money went towards health information technology? And that Obama had originally promised $US30 billion on top of that? Congress hasn’t wanted to fork over the rest, and there’s little indication the GOP-led 2012 caucus will either. But the Obama administration as already created an Office of the National Coordinator for Health Information Technology, and made funds available to help institutions bring analogue records digital.
It’s not something you’ll encounter on a day-to-day basis, but it could very well save someone’s life someday. Here’s hoping it gets the funding it deserves.
Drones!
Let’s face it; Uncle Sam’s not pointing at you any more. He’s got his eye on a shiny new weaponised UAV. Romney and Obama seem to be equally enamoured with the flying deathbots, so this would be the same no matter who had one: we’ll keep bombing people from far, far away with highly sophisticated remote control toys.
Militarised Code!
Remember Stuxnet? Remember Flame? Under the Obama administration, America has embraced cyber warfare like never before. And even though we got caught with our hand in the malware jar, there’s no reason to think we’re going to back off on electronic espionage or outright attacks. And we can probably anticipate that someone will return the favour.
Space (Or Lack Thereof)
Sorry, kids. We’re not going to be undertaking any ambitious Mars or moon projects in the next four years. Obama wants to send a human to the red planet by 2030, but the astute observer will note that he won’t be anywhere near office then. The best he can do is keep funding NASA, something that’s increasingly difficult given our country’s budgetary woes.
More Green Everything
A lot of the green energy progress Obama wanted to make has already been achieved; renewable wind and solar usage has doubled since he took office. But he’s also got a long-term goal of making all new buildings carbon neutral by 2030, something we’re still a long ways off from. And again, a 2030 goal is another way of saying it’s someone else’s problem.