On January 4, 2021, the information technology and Innovation Foundation (itIf), an American think tank, released a report entitled "twenty four ways Congress and the Biden administration can advance good tech policy in 2021". The report puts forward six suggestions for the U.S. Congress to formulate technical regulations and nine suggestions for federal funding. In addition, the report also proposes nine measures for the Biden government in its first year.
This article is for reference only and does not represent the position of this organization.
The information technology and innovation foundation of the United States (itIf) released "24 ways for Congress and Biden administration to promote quality technology policy in 2021"
Recently, the US presidential election has come to an end, and Democratic presidential candidate Biden has been elected. Under the new administration, it is predicted that many Democrats and Biden administration are likely to put social policy agenda at the top of their agenda - expanding health care, reforming police, etc. Meanwhile, as president trump steps down, some Republicans will seek to return to the free market, supply side economy.
Under the new administration, the expectations of the Republican Party and the Democratic Party for policies related to the promotion of new economic growth are increasing day by day. In particular, whether the relevant policies can make progress in 2021 is crucial to the United States, because it is not only crucial to ensure the innovation and economic progress of the United States, but also to show the American people that Washington is still working hard.
In this case, the briefing put forward 15 proposals for the US Congress in terms of technical regulation and federal funding, and 9 proposals for the first year of the Biden administration. These proposals not only support the innovation and competitiveness of the United States, but also are politically feasible, because they are acceptable to both parties and will be supported by the industry. U.S. legislators and government should strive to promote a set of practical technology policy measures to promote the growth of U.S. economy.
1. Advice for Biden
1.1 digital transformation of key departments under significant government influence or government operation
In the past decade, wage growth in the United States has been slow, mainly because of slow productivity growth in the United States. In order to promote productivity growth, more industries will need digital transformation. In some sectors, digital transformation can be achieved by market forces alone. But in many industries that are heavily influenced by the government, including healthcare, transportation, education and electrical systems, the federal government should vigorously promote their digital transformation. The Biden administration should do this in the office of science and Technology Policy (OSTP).
1.2 establish a new EU-US privacy protection system
The European Court of justice recently declared the privacy protection in schrems II invalid, which will affect thousands of us and EU companies (mainly small and medium-sized companies), which rely on privacy protection to transmit data in transatlantic trade and innovation activities. Therefore, the Biden administration should negotiate an alternative privacy agreement with its EU allies, which could be part of a broader initiative to improve transatlantic data protection, data flow and digital trade cooperation.
1.3 abolishing EU digital service tax
Some EU countries have decided that they want us technology companies to pay taxes to their own governments rather than the US government through income taxation. These "digital service taxes" are unprecedented in international taxation, and represent "stealing money" from the U.S. government and American companies. Both Republicans and Democrats oppose the tax, and the Biden administration should negotiate with the EU to abolish the EU digital services tax.
1.4 increase pressure on China in terms of advanced technology industry
The report points out that both parties now strongly support putting pressure on China, especially those related to advanced technology industries. The Biden administration should put the advanced technological interests of the United States at the top of its agenda, work with its allies to deal with it, and take strong bilateral actions where China cannot make multilateral progress.
1.5 WTO reform
The design purpose of the World Trade Organization (WTO) is not to effectively solve the trade protectionism in the 21st century, which relies on the economic distortion "behind the border", which is protected by the opaque and arbitrary illegal rule system. It is not clear whether the WTO can be effectively reformed, but the Biden administration should at least cooperate with its allies in the United States to try to reform the WTO.
1.6 export control on China's high tech
The export control implemented by the United States will bring great economic costs to the United States: the reduction of sales and employment opportunities, and may lose its leading position in technology. Moreover, gone are the days when the United States dominated many technology fields and could effectively cut off access to technology for other countries. Therefore, the Biden government should restrict the unilateral export control to China and, to the maximum extent possible, implement multilateral export control instead of unilateral export control on sensitive technologies exported to China.
1.7 "strong encryption" policy management
Biden government will face the pressure of intelligence and law enforcement departments to ban or restrict the use of so-called "anti-counterfeiting" encryption technology in commercial products, which is an extremely unreasonable measure. Banning "anti-counterfeiting" encryption can hardly limit the network harm of bad encryption actors, but it will reduce the security of commercial products to ordinary consumers and enterprises, and damage the competitiveness of the United States. On the contrary, the competent authorities should support the commercial activities of deploying end-to-end encryption to improve the security of all users.
1.8 establish an inter departmental and inter industry policy analysis team
Biden government should instruct the National Economic Commission to set up 10 to 20 major industry policy analysis groups in advanced trade technology industries (such as semiconductor, aerospace, machine tool and robot technology, software, biopharmaceutical, etc.). These teams should be composed of experts from relevant agencies such as the Department of defense, energy and commerce, and the National Institutes of health. The group should have a strong professional accumulation in the corresponding industry, have a deep understanding of the competitive threats, opportunities, advantages and disadvantages of the industry, and actively listen to the opinions of industry participants (such as companies and industry associations). These teams should advise the authorities on any policies (including trade, taxation, regulation, etc.) that may affect the industry.
1.9 develop national AI strategy
Both parties in Congress support the federal government's national artificial intelligence (AI) strategy. Therefore, the Biden administration should formulate relevant strategies, in which it needs to make clear which parts of the AI field need legislative protection and which areas can be promoted by institutions.
2. Suggestions on technical regulations
Six suggestions for US Congress to make technical regulations
2.1 develop federal data privacy regulations
With the passage of the california privacy act, Congress should pass a more comprehensive federal data privacy act, so that organizations doing business across states do not have to be subject to multiple data protection laws that may conflict with each other. Congress should simplify existing regulations through data privacy legislation, preempt state laws, establish basic consumer data rights, and minimize the negative impact on innovation. Such legislation should protect and promote innovation by minimizing compliance costs and data use restrictions. Regulations should also address specific privacy impairments rather than hypothetical ones, increase transparency requirements, and strengthen oversight and enforcement by providing more resources to the Federal Trade Commission (FTC). The legislative process of Congress should not include data minimization requirements, general inclusion rules, statement of purpose requirements, data retention restrictions, deletion rights, private litigation rights or design private implicit requirements.
2.2 amend Article 230 of the communication Decency Act
Article 230 of the communications Decency Act is a basic law of the Internet, which enables people to communicate, discuss and innovate more widely on the Internet. While many legislators would like to see the law retained, others are calling on Congress to repeal or reform the law to address concerns that it encourages harmful Internet behavior and allows Internet platform behavior to go unpunished. The report argues that Congress should not repeal the law, but should make targeted reforms to ensure that companies are responsible for harmful content and behavior, while maintaining Article 230 protection for freedom of speech and innovation. In particular, Congress should add a narrow "good faith" clause in section 230 (c) (1) to give the court more flexibility in interpreting reasonable content review practice standards, while ensuring that companies can quickly get the court to dismiss nuisance actions against them.
2.3 ensuring telemedicine
In the context of the covid-19 pandemic, telemedicine services have increased dramatically, enabling millions of patients to receive care at home or in other remote areas. However, there are still obstacles for telemedicine to become a standard component of future medical services. Therefore, Congress should pass the federal telemedicine legislation. In particular, this legislation should establish a single national license for telemedicine providers, as the State Health Council generally does not allow medical providers licensed in one state to assist patients in another state. In addition, the legislation should update the statutory authority of the medical insurance and Medicaid Service Center (CMS) to allow it to provide compensation for any approved telemedicine service to any beneficiary. The current rules limit that Medicaid service centers are not allowed to pay for treatment outside rural areas or certain types of medical institutions.
2.4 network neutrality
Although the actual risk of ISPs obstructing and reducing legitimate content on the Internet has been very low, it is important to have regulatory certainty for both core providers and edge providers. Regulation in the United States has been in a seesaw state, from no regulation to complex Title II regulation, and then back to no regulation. Congress should pass a basic legislation to achieve one-time Supervision: (including four elements)
1) Clarify that broadband Internet access service is not "telecommunication service" under Title II of the communication law;
2) Broad agreement on open Internet Protection on a solid legal basis, including non blocking, unlimited and transparent requirements;
3) It allows the differentiation of traffic in favor of competition for the applications in need, and prevents the anti competitive abuse of priority at the same time;
4) Give the Federal Communications Commission (FCC) reasonable but limited jurisdiction to enforce open Internet rules.
2.5 support for skilled migration
Stem (Science, technology, engineering and Mathematics) immigration is crucial to helping America innovate and compete, but reform and expansion have been struggling because many Democrats want to link it to immigration expansion, which many Republicans oppose. But both parties generally support stem immigration. Therefore, Congress should provide special incentives for immigrants with stem graduate degrees, giving priority to those with U.S. university degrees to apply for and obtain green cards. Congress should at least lift the green card employment cap for each country.
2.6 FCC auction authorization
The United States is leading the world in allocating valuable radio spectrum through auction. It ensures that the radio spectrum is used for the most economic purposes. For a long time, both parties have expressed strong support for this. Therefore, with the renewal of the Federal Communications Commission (FCC) auction authorization, Congress should continue to support its authorization, but should also set aside 10% of the auction revenue to support the promotion of 5g in high cost areas.
3. Funding proposals
Nine proposals for federal funding
3.1 support government it modernization
The period of covid-19 pandemic not only shows the importance of electronic access to government services, but also exposes the defects that the public sectors such as federal, state and local governments in the United States lag far behind the private sector in the modernization of information technology. At this time, the United States needs a national economic stimulus plan to support the government's it modernization. This is the best opportunity for Congress to allocate the funds needed to update the government's outdated information technology systems, which can improve government productivity and efficiency, as well as network security and customer service, through the use of technologies such as robotic process automation, chat robots and data analysis.
3.2 building a smart city
With the explosion of 5g and Internet of things, there are many opportunities to improve the economy, urban operation and quality of life. Many other countries have launched smart city pilot projects to help their cities adopt these technologies and become world leaders in smart cities. In order for the United States to keep up with the pace, Congress should allocate $2 billion for smart cities and provide funds for as many as 10 big cities, 20 medium-sized cities and 30 small cities on a competitive basis.
3.3 broadband deployment for low income families
Covid-19 has made it clear that broadband and computing devices are now crucial, at least for families with school-age children. So just as Congress has initiatives such as the school lunch program for children from low-income families, Congress should have a program to subsidize school-age children from low-income families to provide broadband and computing equipment, and to pay for their broadband.
3.4 broadband deployment in rural areas
Covid-19 has made clear the importance of broadband. However, due to the high cost of deploying the network, some parts of the United States (mainly in rural areas) lack broadband. Therefore, the two parties have reached more and more consensus on helping to expand rural broadband. But in order to ensure bipartisan support, Congress should pass legislation: 1) not linking funds to other goals such as network neutrality; 2) focusing funds on places where fixed broadband cannot be used; 3) banning "over construction" (funding additional networks where existing broadband infrastructure exists); 4) supporting technology neutrality, as long as the cost and performance goals are met, no one should be allowed to use fixed broadband All types of fixed broadband can meet the requirements.
3.5 construction of "heart zone" Technology Center
The rapid growth of science and technology industry has promoted the innovation and overall economic growth of the country. However, advanced technology companies are increasingly concentrated in several high cost Metro Hub areas, which not only increases regional inequality, but also reduces the competitiveness of the United States. The federal government should take positive measures to cope with the widening regional economic gap and avoid giving up the leading power of innovation to China. Congress should establish a major new initiative to select a group of promising metropolitan areas to undertake the important package of federal innovation investment and support, so as to accelerate the economic transformation of these areas.
3.6 R & D tax credit
Economists show that "R & D tax credit" is an effective tool to stimulate more R & D investment and solve key market failures. However, among the 34 OECD and BRIC countries (Brazil, Russia, India and China), the US ranks 24th in R & D credit generosity, and if the current terms of R & D expenditure expire, the US may fall to 32nd in 2020. Congress should at least double the R & D rate, abolish the sunset clause in fees, and allow expenditures set by global standards to be counted as eligible expenditures.
3.7 strengthen R & D to meet the challenges of China
More and more consensus between the two parties is that China has posed a severe and increasingly severe challenge to the technology leading position and national security of the United States. In response, Congress should greatly increase federal support for R & D of key technologies and funding for R & D of advanced industries, as proposed by the endless boundary act of both parties.
3.8 funding semiconductor licensing under the chips act
The creating helpful incentives to produce semiconductors (chips) for America Act and the American foundries act are merged into the 2020 National Defense Authorization Act (NDAA). The legislation will expand federal investment in semiconductor research and technology development, introduce incentives, set up semiconductor manufacturing facilities in the United States, and provide more tax credits for investment in the industry. Congress should provide full funding for the semiconductor authorization in the bill.
3.9 energy R & D support
The two parties support the solution of climate change. Although there are differences on the solution, both parties should support increasing funding for clean energy research, development and demonstration (RD & D). Clean energy has the potential to achieve climate goals without giving up the key aspects of the American people's way of life or increasing energy costs. Therefore, Congress should double the funding of the Advanced Research Projects Agency (ARPA-E) of the U.S. Department of energy, and fully fund 17 clean energy demonstration projects authorized by bipartisan legislation.