Clinton unveils her technology agenda
And the praise is rolling in from Silicon Valley,
If there was any lingering doubt as to tech’s favored presidential candidate, Hillary Clinton put an end to that Tuesday.
The presumptive Democratic nominee released a comprehensive tech plan that reads like a Silicon Valley wish list. It calls for connecting every U.S. household to high-speed Internet by 2020, reducing regulatory barriers and supporting Net-neutrality rules, which ban Internet providers from blocking or slowing content.
It proposes investments in computer science and engineering education, expansion of 5G mobile data, making inexpensive Wi-Fi available at more airports and train stations and attaching a green card to the diplomas of foreign-born students earning STEM degrees.
In short, the plan hits on nearly every big-ticket issue in tech, says Box CEO Aaron Levie, a Clinton supporter. “She did a great job of articulating and underscoring ” issues affecting talent, patents, content, encryption and privacy, he says.
Campaign advisers have said other Clinton proposals, covering infrastructure and education, would help raise funds that would go toward paying for the technology agenda.
“No doubt, lots of good stuff included in Secretary Clinton’s tech agenda,” says Bobby Franklin, CEO of National Venture Capital Association. “If the details are as good as the blueprint, we would be very supportive of this type of agenda in a Hillary Clinton administration.”
The 15-page treatise, announced by Clinton in Denver, was released several hours before she was to speak to digital content creators in Los Angeles on Tuesday. The plan comes a day after political commentator and Uber board member Arianna Huffington, appearing on MSNBC, mentioned Salesforce .com CEO Marc Benioff and Starbucks CEO Howard Schultz as possible vice presidential running mates for Clinton. (Benioff did not immediately reply to an email message seeking comment.)
Her presumed general election foe, Donald Trump, who has spent the past several months engaged in lambasting Amazon’s Jeff Bezos, Apple’s Tim Cook, Airbnb’s Brian Chesky and other tech leaders on Twitter, has not published any tech policy proposals.
While Silicon Valley leaders commended the scope and intellect of Clinton’s plan, they said its fate is largely dependent on Congress, post-presidential election.
“What she has proposed is ambitious and may not be approved right away, but it sets a good starting point,” says Anis Uzzaman, CEO of Fenox Venture Capital in San Jose.
Support from Congress is by no means assured. The tech industry and U.S. lawmakers have been at odds over some key issues in the past year. Apple rallied most major tech firms to its side as it fought the Justice Department’s order that it hack into the iPhone used by one of the San Bernardino, Calif., terrorists.
Google and others unsuccessfully fought a new rule that would allow federal agents armed with a search warrant to hack millions of Americans’ computers.
“It would be good for a presidential candidate to advocate a digital ethics and rights bill that would protect citizens and set the rules so that the valley would have clear guidelines on data ownership and usage,” says Ray Wang, CEO of Constellation Research.
“All the talk about STEM education is nice, but let’s be realistic,” Wang adds. “We need a system that enables more than just college. There are technical jobs that don’t require a traditional four-year degree, and what we need to do is foster this type of learning. More private-public partnerships in creating these training programs will help in crafting skill sets and jobs as they evolve.”
Clinton’s plan, too, could be at the mercy of economic uncertainty. A drop in venture funding and volatile equity markets have yielded a dearth of IPOs and raised concerns the tech boom could quickly turn into a bust.
“What she has proposed is ambitious and may not be approved right away, but it sets a good starting point.” Anis Uzzaman, Fenox Venture Capital