McCain, Obama & the Future of Comm Policy

McCain’s deregulatory inclinations could prove problematic for some service providers, however. Even though NTCA members don’t want to be told what to do, they also worry about too few controls. "While everyone is for less government, for deployment to be successful in rural markets a certain amount of regulation is essential if policymakers' underlying objective is to truly ensure that everyone has access to comparable services," said Wacker.

Interestingly, despite distaste for excessive oversight, respondents to the Pike & Fischer survey gave Democrats an overall "slight edge" over Republicans on these issues, said Scott Sleek, Pike & Fischer's director of broadband advisory services. Almost 29 percent said the Democrats are more capable of driving technology advances, while 22.9 percent said Republicans are more capable.

Wiretapping

Wiretapping is likely to be another hot potato for the next president.

Obama has promised to eliminate the warrantless wiretapping made infamous by the Bush administration. ITIF’s Atkinson said Obama would apply more caution about government working with telecommunications companies than McCain, who "generally would be willing to err on the side of national security,” Atkinson said. “Obama would be more likely to err on the side of civil rights."

Obama’s running mate, Sen. Joe Biden, D-Del. (who, by the way, sits near the bottom of CNET's 2006 Technology Voter's Guide 2008 survey), was involved in introducing CALEA legislation. He also has dabbled in recording industry matters and looked at peer-to-peer networks from a homeland security perspective.

Meanwhile, McCain has waffled on wiretapping. Once opposed to telecom immunity, McCain since has done a 180-degree turn and told various media outlets the warrantless wiretapping was appropriate and Constitutional. Some folks believe that it’s because McCain has received so much money from the Bells. According to the Center for Responsive Politics, McCain had collected about $500,000 from telephone utilities by the end of July, compared to Obama’s approximately $250,000.

By now, thanks to the Washington Post and other newspapers, it’s widely known that McCain’s advisers include lobbyists for AT&T Inc. and Verizon Communications Inc. — the two telcos that came under fire for going along with Bush’s warrantless wiretapping program. After a long fight, they also secured immunity from prosecution. USA Today reported earlier this year that, of the 66 current or former lobbyists working for McCain, 23 lobbied for telecom companies in the past 10 years. Those lobbyists, according to USA Today, include McCain’s campaign manager, deputy manager and his finance chief.

The FCC

Regardless of who wins in November, there’s near-universal agreement that the make-up of the FCC will change. There’s also hope that some long-standing points of contention might be resolved.

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