Does Kerry Support Technology?

Declan McCullagh survey's Kerry's record on technology and the associated issues of privacy and government (FBI) surveillance (excerpts):

A careful review of Kerry's history in the Senate shows that his record on technology is mixed. The Massachusetts Democrat frequently sought to levy intrusive new restrictions on technology businesses that would harm the U.S. economy. He was no friend of privacy and sided with Hollywood over Silicon Valley in the copyright wars. But his votes in favor of free trade won him a rating of 87 percent in the 106th Congress and 71 percent in the 107th, according to a scorecard compiled by the Information Technology Industry Council. A Wired News technology scorecard in 2000 was less flattering, giving Kerry a mere 50 percent. Kerry never was a steadfast foe of the tech industry, as were politicians like Sen. Fritz Hollings, D-S.C. But Kerry did veer in that direction a few times. ....there's Kerry's support for a second piece of worrisome legislation backed by Hollings that would have imposed stricter data collection requirements on Internet firms than apply to the rest of the U.S. economy. Tech firms and the U.S. Chamber of Commerce sensibly cried foul, predicting the proposal would lead to higher prices and would "hinder the growth of electronic commerce." Kerry also co-sponsored a similarly intrusive bill in 2000; all of these proposals died in the Senate. Kerry never was a steadfast foe of the tech industry, as were politicians like Sen. Fritz Hollings. But Kerry did veer in that direction a few times. Kerry made enemies of tech firms by rallying support for a Democratic-supported measure dealing with liability in lawsuits arising from the Y2K bug problem. A competing Republican measure preferred by businesses prevailed, and the Kerry-backed plan was rejected by a vote of 57 to 41. On the other hand, Kerry did stand on principle in 1996 when he and other pro-choice senators announced they would seek to repeal sections of the 1996 Telecommunications Act that made it a crime to distribute information about abortion over the Internet. (Unfortunately, Kerry had voted for the law a month earlier, presumably without reading it first.) Kerry can properly claim credit for being one of 11 senators to sponsor the Internet Tax Freedom Act as far back as March 1997. It temporarily banned state and local governments from imposing taxes on Internet access, and Kerry now says he'd like to see the moratorium renewed. ....Kerry, who served on a key intelligence committee, became something of a go-to guy for the FBI. At a hearing before that committee in 1996, Kerry lobbed softball questions at FBI Director Louis Freeh about the Internet and advances in encryption technology. "Has all of this really left you, in the law enforcement community, kind of grappling to catch up, and frankly behind the curve?" Kerry asked. Kerry didn't go so far as to say that strong encryption should be outlawed, which Freeh had wanted. But in 1997, the Massachusetts senator did vote for an FBI-friendly bill that would have forced the U.S. technology industry to head in the extremely troublesome direction of key escrow. ("Key escrow" means backdoors in encryption products for the surveillance convenience of police and spy agencies.) Fortunately, that proposal didn't go anywhere. ....Two years later, Kerry co-sponsored another encryption bill, called the Protect Act. The Protect Act also tried to push key escrow, which it called "recoverable" encryption products, by saying they could be freely exported. ....Patriot Act: Kerry voted for the Patriot Act--and against some pro-privacy amendments proposed by Russ Feingold, D-Wisc., during the floor debate. His campaign says that "John Kerry stands by his vote for the Patriot Act. He even wants to strengthen some aspects of it relating to terrorism, such as improving intelligence information sharing." At the same time, however, Kerry is a sponsor of a bill in the Senate that would repeal part of the Patriot Act by curbing current police practices relating to surveillance and search warrants....

It's definitely a mixed bag of support by Kerry, and more regressive than the Clinton Administration. He definitely has not shown any reason for broad support by the technology industry. Although this subject takes a back seat to Iraq, education reform, health insurance and corporate misconduct, its importance in today's world makes it deserving of debate in this election. You can find a Wired "scorecard" of U.S. Senators' voting on technology issues HERE.