Tech issues largely ignored on presidential campaign trail

Tech issues went largely ignored when U.S. presidential candidates Donald Trump and Hillary Clinton laid out their economics plans in speeches this week.

In fact, Republican nominee Trump made zero mention of IT issues, save for his opposition to trade deals largely supported by the tech industry, in his speech Monday. Trump largely concentrated on cutting taxes and deregulating U.S. businesses.

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Democratic nominee Clinton also opposed to the Trans-Pacific Partnership trade deal, did mention broadband in passing, but most of her speech on Thursday was focused on jobs and consumer pocketbook issues.

Clinton called on the U.S. to achieve universal broadband deployment by 2020 in a section of her speech focused on rebuilding U.S. infrastructure.

"It’s astonishing to me how many places in America ... don’t have access to broadband," she said. "And that disadvantages kids who are asked to do homework using the internet. Five million of them live in homes without access to the internet."

Meanwhile, Trump talked about rejuvenating the U.S. coal and steel industries but made no mention of IT. Clinton is "the candidate of the past," he said. "Ours is the campaign of the future."

Trump's lack of a focus on tech issues has been a sore spot for the tech industry in recent months. Tech trade groups have called on Trump to outline a tech agenda without success.

The internet industry is responsible for about 3 million U.S. jobs, noted Noah Theran, a spokesman for trade group the Internet Association. "It is essential that candidates understand the importance of the internet to our economy and back it up with sound public policy," he added by email.

Link to article: http://www.computerworld.com/article/3106783/it-industry/tech-issues-largely-ignored-on-presidential-campaign-trail.html