GOP Control Declared Good for Tech

WASHINGTON--Tech industry and consumer electronics groups say the shift to Republican control in Congress is good for the future of technology.

"We are committed to advancing important issues that come before the [technology] industry," says Ron Bonjean, press secretary to Senator Trent Lott, now returned to the position of Senate majority leader.

Lott received a perfect score from the Information Technology Industry Council, a trade association that represents the U.S. high-tech community. The organization released a voting guide in October.

Senate Republicans averaged a score of 84 percent in high-tech votes, while the Senate Democrats averaged 65 percent.

"The Democratic propensity to regulate comes at the expense of private enterprise," says Lori Otto, technology policy advisor to the Senate Republican policy committee. "Consequently, the high-tech industry will do better under a Republican-controlled Congress."

During the lame-duck session--following the elections but before the inauguration of the newly elected members--the Homeland Security bill may have a better chance of passing. Proposals for the new department include a privacy officer to oversee technology research and development. The House-approved bill was stuck in the Senate at the Congressional recess.

"The American people can't understand why we couldn't put together a Homeland Security bill," Lott says. "We have to find a way to get it done."

Privacy Priorities

With the emergence of a Republican-controlled Senate, committee leadership changes hands. Senator John McCain (R-Arizona) will replace Senator Fritz Hollings (D-South Carolina) as chair of the Commerce Committee, for example.

"Hollings was not in sync with the tech community, and McCain has been very good with [our] issues," says Ralph Hellmann, senior vice president for government affairs for ITI.

According to ITI's voting guide, Hollings voted in favor of the high-tech industry 26 percent of the time. McCain's rating is 86 percent.

ITI does not support the privacy bill proposed by Hollings as a means to protect online privacy. The group considers the Hollings bill's security mandates excessively rigid, and it prefers McCain's less regulatory approach.

McCain prefers opt-out privacy legislation where "silence implies consent," says Lee Tien, general counsel for the Electronic Frontier Foundation. The Hollings proposal applies an opt-in method.

"There's no question in the privacy world that opt-in is the preferred approach," says Tien. But he calls the matter an "empty debate" because there is no accountability.

Consumer groups support McCain's leadership as well.

"We have a long record of working with [McCain]," says Michael Petricone, vice president of technology policy for Consumers Electronics Union. "He is very well-versed in our industry and has a good understanding of consumers' interest."

Petricone opposes Hollings' plan to control consumer home recording through government mandates, which he says are bad for consumers and for innovation.

Boost for Deregulation

Republicans already controlled the House of Representatives, but they added at least two seats to their total, giving them more leverage to push through their agenda.

"The election results mean a victory for technology because Republican leaders have done the better job in technology issues," says Richard Diamond, a spokesperson for House Majority Leader Dick Armey (R-Texas). "We are going to be open to a consumer-focused pro-technology point of view."

Like Senate Republicans, House Republicans have substantially higher scores in ITI's high-tech ratings than their Democratic counterparts.

In the new Congress that begins in January, House Commerce Committee Chairman Billy Tauzin (R-Louisiana) will make broadband deployment a top priority. The House already passed a bill to deregulate the regional Bell companies so they can provide broadband service unencumbered by rules about sharing the lines with competitors.

McCain traditionally follows the same approach, which may clear the way for broadband legislation.

Congress may also be able to "break the logjam" of the virtual child porn legislation proposed by Senators Orrin Hatch (R-Utah) and Patrick Leahy (D-Vermont), Diamond adds.