A couple of weeks ago, I wrote a summary on the technology policies of the presidential candidates (Obama),(McCain). Since that time it looks as though Obama has made some drastic changes to his technology page.

If you’d rather read the comparison in its entirety, go ahead and click here. For those who just want know the major changes, I’ll summarize for you.

The first major change on his technology page is his report on ‘The Problem’. In his original tech page Obama was very general on what need to be changed. He never really cited anything specific, but made general claims about advancing technology and whatnot. On his new page, he goes into more specifics, mostly about the economy. Hmm, wonder if the fallout last week has anything to do with that?

Here’s an added excerpt from Obama’s new ‘The Problem’ section, “America risks being left behind in the global economy: Revolutionary advances in information technology, biotechnology, nanotechnology and other fields are reshaping the global economy. Without renewed efforts, the United States risks losing leadership in science, technology and innovation. As a share of the Gross Domestic Product, American federal investment in the physical sciences and engineering research has dropped by half since 1970.”

Besides expanding on the ‘The Problem’ section, it looks like other parts of the page have been cut dramatically. “Barack Obama’s Plan” has been changed to “Barack Obama and Joe Biden’s Plan”. The first noticeable edit is to Obama’s stance on open internet, and net neutrality. His first tech page had nearly 300 words dedicated to net neutrality; on his new page, only 45. He cuts out a lot of facts, and really puts a largely broad outlook on the situation.

The second major edit is Obama’s stance on creating a ‘transparent, and connected democracy’. Again, Obama scales back his words from 488, to 217. His stance becomes even more general, and leaves about a slew of details that he presented in his original tech page. Was the adding of Biden to the page a result, who knows?

There were other minor edits as well, but the net neutrality, and what I refer to as Government 2.0 is what really saw the edit axe. Is Obama wanting to steer away from these issues? And if so, for what reason? Any ideas?

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