Now that the dust has settled, the high-tech industry in the US is now wondering what will happen under the ruling of George W Bush. Throughout his presidential campaign, which did have a 440 member technology advisory council, it was noticeable that the high-tech industry was conspicuous by its absense because of the domination of promises of tax cuts, education and social security reforms.

Many appear to believe that the internet will not be a key policy priority and a white paper produced by the US Internet Industry Association stated that the internet will not hold the same amount of importance as it did in the Clinton administration.

Mr Bush does have interests in the technology industry however, it is not specifically the internet industry. Priorities outlined are:

• the expansion of H1-B visas that will increase the number of foreign high-tech workers allowed to work in the us
  
• the promotion of biotechnology
  
• the reform of technology export rules that will allow exportation of more advanced technology while protecting national security

Mr Bush also has a series of proposals regarding the internet and international trade such as:

• establishing the internet as a worldwide duty and tariff-free zone
  
• eliminating non-trariff trade barriers to trade in information technology
  
• strengthen efforts to combat piracy of US intellectual property and ideas

This does not mean that these issues will appear as a priority and even be addressed in 2001, these may only be issues that will be addressed by the congress and the regulatory agencies rather than the administration themselves.