Where do the major political parties stand on major Internet-related policy issues? Good question, most recently answered by Clarissa Ramon from Public Knowledge. She wrote a piece that looked over six major policy issues and where the parties seem to stand on them based on their party platforms. Issues include: Internet freedom, open Internet, spectrum, broadband adoption, intellectual property and the Trans Pacific Partnership and free trade agreements. Here’s a snippet:

4.

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Now that one barrier has been lifted for potentially millions of DREAMers, who may now be eligible to apply for deferred action to gain temporary residence and potentially a work permit, there may be another barrier in their way: money. Applying for the deferred action means not only a the ability to pay not only for the $465 fee to process the application, but for attorney services as well. “We want to be the TurboTax for deferred action,” said Romish Badani, founder and CEO of LexSpot, a company that tries to make legal services more accessible for the general public.… more

A tool at the Own The Dream website helps applicants who may be eligible for deferred action figure out whether they are eligible, and if so, can help them figure out what they need to apply. There’s an instructional video about the tool. If you recall, deferred action is an administrative change that took place within the U.S. Citizenship and Immigration Services for DREAMers, allowing them to apply for residency and a work permit if they meet with certain requirements.… more

The Obama campaign released a smartphone application today that will help the campaign narrowly focus its efforts during the last 100 days leading into the 2012 presidential election. The app, available for iPhones today and Android devices in the near future, is meant to synch with Facebook, Twitter, email and text messages. It also synchronizes with a web app, Dashboard, on the OFA website. The app will allow Obama for America to target Latinos on issues that matter to them and in battleground states during the last three months of the campaign.… more

An interesting piece in Global Voices Online follows the recent Festival Clic that took place in Havana, Cuba in June. According to the piece, the festival:

was designed to discuss Internet and Society in Cuba, has got several bloggers talking about technology and the role it can play in the country’s future.

For me the key takeaway from über famous Cubana blogger Yoani Sanchez was this:

With material simplicity, the CLICK Festival managed to exceed our expectations. The frank and open debate, uncensored, the great participation by the audience, and the success in pulling off a technological and futuristic event, were some of the major achievements.

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Houston, Texas — After receiving a whipping in the 2010 election, Texas Democrats faced a conundrum: how to bounce back, being in the minority both politically and when it comes to resources. We spoke to the Deputy Executive Director of the Texas Democratic Party, Anthony Gutierrez, and he said the party took a chance on technology: digital video, to be exact. “It seemed like with print media, we were having a difficult time getting our message disseminated,” he told us, noting that declining newspaper readership, and newspaper reporting resources, contributed to this phenomenon.… more

Some good thoughts on the importance of spectrum to Latinos comes from Justin Velez-Hagan at Politic365:

 For Hispanics, the impact is even greater.  Hispanics are adopting technologies that use spectrum at a faster rate than any other demographic.  By 2015, it is expected that more Hispanics will access the Internet via their mobile devices than via personal computers.  As business growth and employment searches rely more and more upon Internet communication – combined with the fact that Hispanics are also among the least employed as well as the most entrepreneurial – wireless communication access will have a significant future economic impact for Hispanics.

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