Every time the presidency changes hands in America, you can expect some big shake-ups in the technology world to follow not long afterward. President Joe Biden has not disappointed, as The White House has issued an executive order to make sweeping changes to tech in the USA.
What Did Present Joe Biden Declare With His Executive Order?
You can see the full order on the White House website. If you do decide to read it all, note that not all of it will relate to technology. That’s because the order aims to promote healthy business competition in the US across all economies, not just tech.
Some changes are new, while others are reversing what the previous government established. For instance, in 2017, the government successfully repealed net neutrality, thus allowing ISPs to prioritize certain traffic.
Now, Joe Biden’s executive order will “restore Net Neutrality rules undone by the prior administration.” As such, all the old laws are back, and ISPs will have to treat all kinds of connections equally to one another.
The executive order also brings fantastic news for advocates of the Right to Repair. This right states that people and independent repair shops should have access to the parts and the know-how to repair devices should they break.
In recent years, technology companies have starved both consumers and repair shops of the parts they need, thus encouraging people to use official repair services that cost more. However, this executive order nips that in the bud:
[The president] encourages the FTC to issue rules against anti-competitive restrictions on using independent repair shops or doing DIY repairs of your own devices and equipment.
To encourage more competition, the order also has some scathing new rules to keep monopolies in check. The order will provide “an Administration policy of greater scrutiny of mergers, especially by dominant internet platforms,” which will control how companies absorb other companies and how much they give out for free to hamstring weaker companies.
There are plenty more changes listed in the order, such as banning ISPs from striking deals with landlords to give tenants fewer options, as well as establishing a “broadband nutrition label” that gives consumers all the details they need to know. As such, head over to the White House website and check the information for yourself if you’re interested.
Something Old and Something New for US Technology
President Joe Biden’s new pro-competition executive order has shaken up American technology by introducing new ideas and reviving old ones. We’ll have to see if these changes are positively received or if the president makes enemies of some of technology’s biggest movers due to this order.
US technology has seen its fair share of mix-ups in recent months. For example, the US passed some new anti-trust laws in June 2021.
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