Trump isn’t the only politician who says dumb things about the Net
CNET:
Donald Trump has joined a group whose members circulate among the upper ranks of American politics.
Unfortunately for the Republican presidential candidate, that group consists of politicians who have displayed a poor comprehension of the Internet. In Trump’s case, it was the idea spouted earlier this month that the United States could turn off the parts of “our” Internet used by terrorists.
It’s tough to understand the Internet. There is a reason many of the people who design and operate it hold advanced degrees in computer science. But as the Internet extends into every corner of our lives — rewriting the rules of communication, education, entertainment and now driving — it is increasingly important for leaders to understand how the Internet works. Joseph Lorenzo Hall, chief technologist for the Center for Democracy and Technology in Washington, DC, spends a lot of his time trying to make technology understandable to politicians and to make laws understandable to technologists. The average lawmaker doesn’t have a good grasp of the topic, he said.
“As much as a kindergartner knows about the real world around them is about as much as we can expect Congress members to understand about tech,” Hall said, based on his numerous meetings.
