President-elect Barack Obama, the next President of the United States, has an uphill climb when he takes over control of the country in January, with several different technology issues to deal with.
Politics aside, tech industry analysts are speculating what impact Obama will have in regards to copyright reform and other key tech issues.
Although Sen. John McCain touted the need for copyright enforcement in the United States, Obama said "we need to update and reform our copyright and patent systems to promote civic discourse, innovation, and investment while ensuring that intellectual property owners are fairly treated."
Silicon Valley and other tech-friendly voters seemed to agree more with Obama's stance on issues, although we'll have to wait and see what he does.
Only time will tell what kind of copyright strategy Obama will use, as he has been overly vague regarding his desire to amend the Digital Millennium Copyright Act. When asked while campaigning if allowing content owners to make a legal backup of a computer game or DVD after purchase, he said he would back a DMCA change "in concept."
Regarding file sharing, Obama wishes to broaden the amount of online privacy Internet users have, which could lead to interesting times with the Record Industry Association of America (RIAA) and Motion Picture Association of America (MPAA).
On a global scale, Obama realizes that China is a major copyright offender, and more enforcement is needed to combat the problem. Along with China, it'll be interesting to see how he deals with Russia and other eastern European nations, where piracy is rampant and continues to grow at a mind-boggling rate.
Even though issues relating to technology are important for a lot of people, the U.S. has more pressing matter, and it is unknown when, if ever, Obama will worry about the DMCA, copyright infringement and file sharing, and other issues discussed in the tech world.
