Reactions to Hillary Clinton's Tech Agenda

Hillary Clinton unveiled a far-reaching plan explaining how her administration would approach technology issues, promising to connect all American homes to high-speed Internet by the end of the decade and revamping the country's education system to support foreign-born engineers and US entrepreneurs.
John Windhausen, Executive Director of SHLB:“Access to open, affordable, and high-capacity broadband is no longer a luxury, yet a nationwide digital divide still prevails in the 21st Century. The SHLB Coalition is pleased that Hillary Clinton’s Technology Initiative aims to close that divide by connecting anchor institutions to the broadband necessary for them to advance their communities.Broadband policy often tends to focus on business and residential users, while Secretary Clinton’s Technology Initiative recognizes anchor institutions’ important role in promoting digital equity and seeks to increase their funding options. Her initiative would expand the funding for the successful BTOP program to connect more anchor institutions to broadband and work to provide free WiFi to the public. By proposing to invest new federal resources to connect “additional anchor institutions”, we hope that she intends to expand broadband for rural health clinics, community colleges and public housing. In addition, the SHLB Coalition welcomes Hillary’s policies regarding “dig once” strategies to reduce the cost of broadband infrastructure, the utilization of dark fiber, fostering public-private partnerships, the deployment of 5G technologies, and opening new spectrum. All of these policies help enhance broadband connectivity for anchor institutions, and are in line with SHLB’s Broadband Action Plan.”
Chris Lewis, Vice President of Government Affairs at Public Knowledge: “Secretary Clinton’s tech policy agenda lays out a strong roadmap to supporting the values of access, openness and opportunity for consumers around the world while balancing the needs to promote competition and innovation for American industry. We look forward to these ideas being a part of the debates as more Americans realize that the tech policy decisions in Washington directly impact their career and education opportunities, personal privacy, and general quality of life."
TechNet president Linda Moore: “It’s worth singling out Secretary Clinton’s proposals on making investments in computer science and STEM education, the need to safeguard the free flow of information across borders, the critical importance of cybersecurity at home and abroad, as well as the need to reallocate and repurpose radio spectrum for broadband and WiFi. These are key components in the effort to build a true innovation economy.”
Free Press Action Fund President and CEO Craig Aaron: “We're encouraged that Hillary Clinton is making the internet's future a top priority in her campaign. The internet is no longer a luxury for Americans: It's a necessity in our daily lives. The issues highlighted by Clinton today matter greatly to millions and millions of Internet voters...We urge the Clinton campaign to do more to recognize Americans' serious concerns about unchecked spying and surveillance. Rejecting the false choice between privacy interests and keeping Americans safe means committing to change the PATRIOT Act policies that have targeted innocent people for unwarranted surveillance. Unfortunately, her initiative lacks details on how a future Clinton administration would protect the privacy rights of everyday people.”
Berin Szoka, President of Tech Freedom: "Hillary hit the ball out of the park about making broadband deployment easier. Removing government barriers is the best way to close the digital divide and increase speeds for all Americans."
Computer & Communications Industry Association president Ed Black, "The ability to grow the economy in the future will depend on a good foundation for the digital economy. This is the platform of a candidate who can be trusted to grow the economy. [W]hat distinguishes Clinton is her articulation of a platform to provide better trained workers, Internet access, and policies both here and with our trading partners to deliver economic growth.”
Gene Kimmelman, president of Public Knowledge: "The blueprint sets up opportunities for key stakeholders to push their private agenda in the context of a much broader economic development plan. It's no surprise they'd know how to weave their way around some of these political minefields."