<p>A President McCain would be bad for the internet for five major reasons:</p>
<p>1.) McCain says he wants to crack down on internet privacy; how's he going to do that without compromising our privacy? More troubling is that I think he will try to sell it as a way to combat terrorism--yes, some piracy does help fund terrorist groups and other extremists but does internet piracy?</p>
<p>2.) McCain is in favor of promoting tiered networks. That is networks that function at different bandwidths, or speeds. What this would mean is that your internet service provider would have a new way of charging you more without really providing you with better service. In addition, such practices also distract companies from expanding their networks so that more people can have affordable access to the internet.</p>
<p>3.) When it comes to intellectual property disputes, McCain sides with the content industry and not the consumer. His concern for ensuring that copyrights are respected is ironic considering that over the course of this campaign the McCain campaign has be sued by a musician and nearly sued by the RIAA for not receiving proper permission to use content in his ads. Also, there was a flap with FOX News not too long ago because he used footage from a FOX debate in an attack ad without receiving proper permission to do so.</p>
<p>4.) One of his main advisers on this subject is Chuck Fish, an attorney and former Time Warner executive. Shady? I think so.</p>
<p>5.) McCain doesn't even use the internet on a regular basis so he has little understanding of the implications of the policies that various lobbyists are trying to sell to him; thus, he really has no chance of knowing whether or not he is receiving good advice.</p>
<p>Anyone remember the first time they showed their mom/dad/grandpa/grandma how to use a computer to get on the internet? Would you feel comfortable with him or her making internet policy decisions?</p>
<p>Lastly, under a President McCain we could likely see the end of copyrighted material on places like Youtube. :(</p>