Yesterday’s election for the 45th President of the United States might place a bigger question mark on technology than we think. The 45th President of the United States owes many thanks to technology for accomplishing what seemed to be impossible. We all know it’s possible to scan 650,000 emails, this is the technological age, so it makes sense. This is not about deliberating on what went wrong in the election, but about progressing forward with a new mindset and outlook on the next four years.
Both parties candidates expressed technology policies that are sort of unclear at this moment. For the sake of coherence, let’s take a look at what Donald Trump says about important stances that could possibly change the way we do business technology sectors.
Net Neutrality
Where does Trump stand on Net Neutrality? There is not a definitive answer at this moment. But there is his tweet from 2014, which states:
“Obama’s attack on the internet is another top-down power grab. Net neutrality is the Fairness Doctrine. Will target conservative media.”
Essentially, I think this tells us he’s not exactly sure what it means but he opposes it. With that being said, the President will be appointing someone soon to head the FCC branch of government, so I highly suggest monitoring this situation closely. Net Neutrality will shape the way people find our businesses and shift ISP relationships entirely. It seems likely that Trump will opt to deregulate the telecom industry, however.
Encryption and Cyber Security
Like other policies, Trump’s plan for Cyber Security is thin. There will be an immediate audit of government defenses and vulnerabilities, from a variety of individuals ranging from military to private sector.
One thing we do know is Trump did call for a boycott against Apple during the debacle with FBI authorities When there were question marks on who would be able to successfully break into a killer’s encrypted iPhone.
Just in case the future does not hold a place for encryption it wouldn’t be a bad idea to download some software now and learn how to use it.