Update: Quick word, as commenters have noted the original Obama plan still exists at the bottom of the Web site page with the original language in PDF form under the title of being just Senator Obama’s plan. I don’t know why they dropped language on the site itself to reflect the Obama/Biden plan and the campaign has never returned my calls or e-mail requests for information in the past and don’t seem likely to do so now. Still I am looking for information on if the new language is “in addition to” or supercedes the original plan.”

The Obama campaign has made a number of changes to its “Science, Technology & Innovation” position page that now reflects the position of both the Senator and his running-mate Joe Biden. A Slashdot submitter summed up some of these changes by saying the following:

“Barack Obama has edited his official website on many issues, including a huge revision on the technology page. Strangely it seems net neutrality is no longer as important as it was a few months ago, and the swaths of detail have been removed and replaced with fairly vague rhetoric. Many technologists were alarmed with the choice of Joe Biden before, and now it appears their fears might have been well founded.”

You can see all the changes by viewing this link.

I am including a few of the things I found of note:

1) While the page still states “Barack Obama strongly supports the principle of network neutrality to preserve the benefits of open competition on the Internet. ” Now missing is the following firm explanation of what that means to the Senator:

Users must be free to access content, to use applications, and to attach personal devices. They have a right to receive accurate and honest information about service plans. But these guarantees are not enough to prevent network providers from discriminating in ways that limit the freedom of expression on the Internet. Because most Americans only have a choice of only one or two broadband carriers, carriers are tempted to impose a toll charge on content and services, discriminating against websites that are unwilling to pay for equal treatment. This could create a two-tier Internet in which websites with the best relationships with network providers can get the fastest access to consumers, while all competing websites remain in a slower lane. Such a result would threaten innovation, the open tradition and architecture of the Internet, and competition among content and backbone providers. It would also threaten the equality of speech through which the Internet has begun to transform American political and cultural discourse. Barack Obama supports the basic principle that network providers should not be allowed to charge fees to privilege the content or applications of some web sites and Internet applications over others. This principle will ensure that the new competitors, especially small or non-profit speakers, have the same opportunity as incumbents to innovate on the Internet and to reach large audiences. Obama will protect the Internet’s traditional openness to innovation and creativity and ensure that it remains a platform for free speech and innovation that will benefit consumers and our democracy.

2) In the section “Protecting children online” now missing from the Obama plan is the following:

An Obama administration will encourage the creation of Public Media 2.0., the next generation of public media that will create the Sesame Street of the Digital Age and other video and interactive programming that educates and informs. Obama will support the transition of existing public broadcasting entities and help renew their founding vision in the digital world.

Obama will work to give parents the tools to prevent reception of programming that they find offensive on television and on digital media. Obama will encourage improvements to the existing voluntary rating system, exploiting new technologies like tagging and filtering, so that parents can better understand what content their children will see, and have the tools to respond. Private entities like Common Sense Media are pursuing a “sanity not censorship” approach, which can serve as a model for how to use technology to empower parents without offending the First Amendment.

Obama will encourage industry not to show inappropriate adult-oriented commercial advertising during children’s programming.
On the Internet, Obama will require that parents have the option of receiving parental controls software that not only blocks objectionable Internet content but also prevents children from revealing personal information through their home computer.

Senator Obama has dropped his statement of support for “Public Media 2.0.” While the statement still says “An Obama administration will give parents the tools and information they need to control what their children see on television and the Internet in ways fully consistent with the First Amendment,” he no longer outlines what those tools might be or whether it will be the government supplying them. He has also dropped mention of stopping the showing of “adult-oriented” commercial advertising during children’s programming and requiring parents be given internet control software.

3) What was once a multi-bulleted position on safeguarding privacy, is now a two sentence statement that states Obama & Biden will give “privacy protections for the digital age and will harness the power of technology to hold government and business accountable for violations of personal privacy” but provides little information on what those protections will be, how they will be enforced or implemented.

For privacy watchers this sudden change, in the wake of Obama’s flip on FISA will no doubt be disheartening.

Finally, an addition was made to Obama’s “record” on these issues. What I find interesting is that there is no statement about Biden’s record on technology.