Your Technology Voting Guide
Over at News.com, Declan McCullagh and Anne Broache have compiled a voter guide based on officeholders' votes on tech-related issues:
To rate who's best and who's worst on technology topics before the Nov. 7 election, CNET News.com has compiled a voter's guide, grading how representatives in the U.S. Congress have voted over the last decade.
While many of the scored votes centered on Internet policy, others covered computer export restrictions, H-1B visas, free trade, research and development, electronic passports and class action lawsuits. We excluded the hot-button issue of Net neutrality, which has gone only to a recorded floor vote in the House of Representatives so far, because that legislation has generated sufficient division among high-tech companies and users to render it too difficult to pick a clear winner or loser.
Sen. Maria Cantwell (D-Wash.) and Sen. George Allen (R-Va.) had the highest scores for a Dem and a Rep in the Senate; Sen. Daniel Akaka (D-Hawaii), Sen. Mike DeWine (R-Ohio), and Sen. Richard Shelby were the bottom feeders. In the House, Reps. Zoe Lofgren (D-Calif.), Ellen Tauscher (D-Calif.), and Ron Paul (R-Texas), had the highest scores in each party. The low-ballers? Reps. John Barrow (D-Georgia), John Salazar (D-Colo.), Pete Visclosky (D-Ind.), Geoff Davis (R-Ky.) and Lynn Westmoreland (R-Ga.).