The Republican platform blasts the Federal Communications Commission for its net neutrality rule, a move that Republicans see as an overstep of the agency's powers and hope to see overturned on a legal challenge brought by Verizon Wireless and MetroPCS. The platform also criticizes the administration for moving slowly on freeing up wireless spectrum and alleges that the $7.2 billion allocated in the economic stimulus package for broadband deployment has made "no progress toward the goal of universal coverage."

The Republicans vow to conduct an inventory of government spectrum with the goal of implementing new auctions, as the FCC is currently planning for the reallocation of private-sector spectrum, and to focus on public-private partnerships to expand broadband coverage.

The Democratic platform reiterates Obama's goal of delivering high-speed Internet service to 98 percent of the population, and reaffirms the importance of freeing up new spectrum.

In their address of regulations, the Democrats do not offer an explicit defense of the FCC's net neutrality rule, but instead cite "common-sense safeguards" like the the White House has endorsed and the administration's support for do-not-track tools that would give Internet users the chance to opt of online profiling and behavioral targeting.

Perhaps recognizing that the term "net neutrality," or the prohibition against service providers slowing or blocking the transmission of legal content on their networks, has become politically toxic, the Democrats instead endorse the guiding principal.