Sen. Judd Gregg, R-N.H., withdrew his nomination for Commerce secretary today, citing differing views with President Barack Obama on the economic stimulus and the Census. "Obviously, the president requires a team that is fully supportive of all of his initiatives," Gregg said. In a statement, Gregg said he and Obama discussed the differences during the nominating process but "unfortunately we did not adequately focus on these concerns. We are functioning from a different set of views on many critical items of policy."
Shortly before Gregg was tapped, there was plenty of buzz inside the Beltway and in Silicon Valley about Symantec CEO John Thompson's candidacy for the job that New Mexico Gov. Bill Richardson also turned down. Thompson told Tech Daily Dose on Inauguration Day that, if chosen, he would be honored to serve in the new administration. It is unclear whether the high-tech executive is back in the running or if he would still want the position after being edged out by the senator. For more on Gregg, see Friday's CongressDaily AM Edition, which will be online later this evening.
The White House planned to announce as early as Monday that Melissa Hathaway, top cybersecurity adviser to the director of national intelligence under President George W.Bush, will oversee a review of federal cybersecurity efforts, after which she will likely be offered the post of cyber czar, an intelligence official confirmed Friday. Hathaway, who was senior adviser to former Director of National Intelligence Mike McConnell and previously worked as a consultant at Booz Allen Hamilton, will leave the office for 60 days to conduct the review of overall cyber organization and strategy in the federal government, sources told GovExec.com.
Hathaway will lead the review with the National Security Council, the president's principal forum for considering national security and foreign policy issues with senior advisers and Cabinet officials. The council also helps coordinate policies among federal agencies. Homeland Security Secretary Janet Napolitano is running a parallel review at that department outlining the state of cybersecurity in government. Senate Homeland Security and Governmental Affairs Federal Financial Management Subcommittee Chairman Thomas Carper, D-Del., lauded the news but said the exploration must not stop with Hathaway's assessment.
"I will continue to monitor cyber security issues and work with the Obama administration to ensure our nation's sensitive information and critical infrastructure is protected," Carper said. "America's military, economy and way of life depend on our ability to send and receive accurate and reliable information quickly and securely. Unfortunately, I have seen evidence of criminal groups and even foreign nations looking to do us harm by exploiting vulnerabilities in our information infrastructure."
Update: The announcement about Hathaway came at 6:45 p.m. Follow the jump for the official White House press release...
My colleague over at NextGov.com and Government Executive Gautham Nagesh has been monitoring the Office of Management and Budget's expected announcement about a new e-government administrator. Here's the latest...
Federal information technology specialists think District of Columbia chief technology officer Vivek Kundra would be a strong successor to Karen Evans in the top IT job at the Office of Management and Budget, but they caution that change comes much harder at the federal level. "I think it's great; Vivek is both creative and practical," said Bruce McConnell, an independent consultant and former chief of information technology and policy at OMB. "His track record as D.C. CTO is amazing in terms of opening up government and making systems work. I think he's taking on a bigger challenge this time, but he's got the tools and experience to be very successful."
Ray Bjorklund, senior vice president and chief knowledge officer for the consulting firm FedSources, agrees. "There are big challenges for anybody taking on that position, but [Kundra] is somebody who seems to have a fresh, dynamic way of approaching IT management . . . and is also very willing to be decisive," he said. Despite having "fairly rigorous" processes in place for managing IT investments, the office of e-government has "probably never had enough decisiveness built into it," Bjorklund said. "There are painful decisions that have to be made," he added, referring to programs that should be either eliminated or consolidated across agency lines.
Read the full story here.
President Barack Obama plans to announce he has appointed Vivek Kundra, the District of Columbia's chief technology officer to take the top information technology post in the federal government, according to a source. Kundra, who has deployed advanced applications to improve the performance of public services during his nearly two years as CTO for the District, will replace Karen Evans as administrator for e-government and information technology in the Office of Management and Budget.
The position effectively serves as the federal government's chief information officer. The administration could announce Kundra's appointment as soon as Thursday. Kundra could not be reached, and a spokesman for Washington Mayor Adrian Fenty declined to comment. Kundra's name has been linked to a top IT job in the Obama administration for months, though most of the discussion has focused on the still-open chief technology officer position. During the campaign, Obama said the CTO would report directly to him, indicating the position would have authority. Read the full Government Executive story here and an earlier interview with Kundra here.
The yet-to-be-named federal chief technology officer will likely face a variety of challenges in executing the mission envisioned by President Barack Obama, according to a Congressional Research Service report released this week. Among the early hurdles will be negotiating domains of responsibilities, formal and informal, within the White House and with executive branch agencies that have overlapping missions. Obama has not indicated whether he intends to establish a CTO position by executive order or other administrative process, or whether he will seek legislation.
Congress may decide to provide a statutory foundation for a CTO, define the individual's roles and authorities, authorize and appropriate funds, provide for oversight, and address other aspects of the position, the CRS report dated Jan. 21 states. If Congress takes this route, questions may arise. What mission, duties, and authorities should the CTO have? Should a CTO serve as the chief CIO for the government as well as the lead champion for U.S. innovation? Should the CTO's appointment be subject to Senate confirmation? What is the relationship between the CTO and the existing CTOs and CIOs of individual agencies?
Senate Budget Committee ranking member Judd Gregg, who was officially tapped Tuesday to run the Commerce Department, has a reputation for being a fiscal conservative and some technology policy watchers wonder if that mindset will clash with some of President Barack Obama's spending priorities. While Gregg largely cast favorable votes on key technology issues during his tenure on Capitol Hill, he did not support U.S. competitiveness legislation that passed in the 110th Congress, which authorized major funding increases in federal R&D programs.
Throwing billions of dollars at "feel-good initiatives" would not help the country stay competitive, he argued in April 2007. The Senate passed the bill 88-8; the House voted for it 367-57; and former President George W. Bush signed the bill later that summer. Since the measure's enactment, appropriators have not kept pace with its doubling of the National Science Foundation budget and other funding boosts. Sen. Olympia Snowe, R-Maine, issued a statement saying Gregg's fiscal restraint "will certainly be missed in the halls of Congress." For his part, Senate Commerce Committee Chairman John (Jay) Rockefeller called Gregg "a compassionate leader who understands that commerce is the keystone of any of our economic recovery plans."
If confirmed, it is unclear what ideas the New Hampshire senator will bring to the table with respect to the country's upcoming transition to digital television or efforts to increase broadband Internet availability in underserved areas. "He has been supportive of these issues but has never taken a leadership role," said Ralph Hellman, a lobbyist for the Information Technology Industry Council. The Commerce Department oversees the National Telecommunications and Information Administration, which is coordinating the digital TV shift, as well as the National Institutes of Standards and Technology, and the Patent and Trademark Office.
Continue reading Gregg's Tech Track Record Has Highs & Lows.
Policymakers must ensure that the nation's economic infrastructure is "rebuilt to handle the traffic of the global economy" and that "our cutting-edge science and technology remain the envy of the world," President Barack Obama said Tuesday as he formally announced that Senate Budget Committee ranking member Judd Gregg is his pick for Commerce secretary. Until last week, many high-tech insiders thought Symantec CEO John Thompson had a good shot at the job. Watch video of the White House event above. Watch Thompson's Inauguration Day remarks about tech policy and the economy here.
From Tuesday's CongressDaily AM Edition:
FTC Commissioner and onetime Hollywood lobbyist Jon Leibowitz is a top contender to lead the agency charged with consumer protection and preventing unfair business practices, sources told CongressDaily Monday. Leibowitz, who served as vice president for congressional affairs at the Motion Picture Association of America and worked as Democratic counsel for the Senate Judiciary Antitrust Subcommittee, was appointed by President George W. Bush in 2004. He serves alongside Republicans J. Thomas Rosch and William Kovacic, the acting chairman, and Pamela Jones Harbour, an independent. Christine Varney, a former FTC commissioner and a partner at Hogan & Hartson, was in the mix to lead FTC but was nominated last month by President Barack Obama to head the Justice Department's antitrust division. Another former FTC commissioner whose name is being floated is Mozelle Thompson, a policy adviser to social-networking site Facebook.
Read the full story here.
Senate Budget Committee ranking member Judd Gregg , who recently emerged as the top contender for Commerce secretary, has earned high marks for his stance on issues of importance to the tech sector including casting votes for key trade agreements and tax bills. He supported the Central America Free Trade Agreement as well as accords with Australia, Chile, Morrocco and Singapore and backed a permanent federal research and development tax credit. He has been an advocate for high skilled immigration and co-sponsored legislation last Congress that would allocate more visas to immigrants with advanced degrees.
Gregg also supported the high-tech industry on stock options legislation and Internet taxation issues and has voted for overhauls to the nation's securities and class action litigation regimes. He has an 82 percent lifetime vote rating on the Information Technology Industry Council's congressional scorecard, which was created in 1998. On the flip side, Gregg voted against U.S. competitiveness legislation that authorized major monetary increases in federal R&D programs, citing concerns about funding levels. He also voted against some larger omnibus bills that contained tech supported tax language.
While Gregg has not had to vote on controversial legislation that would overhaul the U.S. patent system, he has not indicated he would support the bill in the form that nearly reached the Senate floor last spring. Gregg has, however, been helpful from his position on the Appropriations Commerce-State-Justice Subcommittee to end fee diversion at the Patent and Trademark Office, sources said.
National Telecommunications and Information Administration employees have been told that Anna Gomez, who is currently vice president for government affairs at Sprint Nextel, has been tapped for the role of deputy assistant secretary. Sources said her paperwork is still being completed but the White House wants her to start as soon as possible -- potentially early next week. Gomez worked on President Barack Obama's transition team as the U.S. Trade Representative Lead and was deputy chief of the FCC's international bureau. She also previously served as deputy chief of staff for the National Economic Council and was an associate at the law firm Arnold & Porter, according to OpenSecrets.org.
In her role at NTIA, Gomez will answer to the yet-to-be-named Commerce secretary and will be a key administration voice on the nationwide switch to digital television. The transition is currently scheduled to conclude on Feb. 17 but it could be pushed back to June 12. The Senate voted twice to delay the switch last week. The first bill did not get a two-thirds majority in the House, which will take up the second bill next week. White House press secretary Robert Gibbs said Obama will sign legislation to delay the switch because he wants to make sure nobody loses their TV signals. -- Winter Casey
Update: At Sprint, Gomez served as one of the company's lead regulatory attorneys before the FCC and state public utility commissions. She was not a registered lobbyist on Capitol Hill and she officially left Sprint on Friday.
From CongressDaily's 11:30 Extra...
At first, the rumblings about Senate Budget ranking member Judd Gregg being considered as Commerce secretary in President Barack Obama's Cabinet, seemed to be undermined by one detail: Judd's Senate vacancy would be filled by someone appointed by the state's Democratic governor and a Democratic appointee, coupled with the likelihood of Democrat Al Franken eventually being seated as Minnesota's junior senator would give the party a filibuster-blocking 60 votes. But Gregg confirmed Friday that he is in the mix. "I am aware that my name is one of those being considered by the White House for secretary of Commerce, and am honored to be considered, along with others, for the position." He added that there was "nothing more I can say at this time." But he certainly said enough to get tongues wagging on a relatively quiet day. There was plenty of chatter earlier this week about Symantec CEO John Thompson's candidacy for Commerce secretary. The saga continues...
Update: White House press secretary Robert Gibbs told reporters at his afternoon briefing that Gregg "is somebody the president has talked to recently about the economic crisis... and a host of host of economic matters." When asked for details on the Commerce nomination, Gibbs said: "I'm not going to get into the name game or the final four picks for this job or that. I talked to the president specifically about a decision on the next Commerce secretary and last time I talked to him this morning a final decision has not been made... it's something he hopes to make a decision on and announce shortly."
Neal Lane, a former science adviser to President Bill Clinton and former National Science Foundation director, wants the Obama administration to make science and technology a higher priority than it has been in recent years. Naming Harvard physicist John Holdren as head of the White House Office of Science and Technology Policy was a good start, he said in a paper co-authored by Kirstin Matthews, a policy fellow at Rice University's Baker Institute for Public Policy. Read the full document here.
Their recommendations include: ensuring federal policy is grounded in the best scientific and technical information; enhancing federal funding for science and engineering and research and development in high-priority areas; and mandating a comprehensive review of all federal programs in K-12 education and implementing major reforms, particularly in science, technology, engineering and math. "The discovery of new knowledge and technologies and their diffusion into the public domain drives innovation and contributes to sustainable economic growth and social well-being," they wrote.
Meanwhile, Christopher Bronk, a Baker Institute technology fellow, believes the new administration should place a renewed emphasis on information technology. In a separate paper, he recommended that the U.S. be more pragmatic with its IT policy by appointing a federal chief technology officer -- a position that Obama plans to fill. The report also recommends that the State Department create an entity to engage in digital public diplomacy and a clearly enunciated national policy on Internet monitoring. Read the full document here.
As buzz builds inside the Beltway and in Silicon Valley about Symantec CEO John Thompson's candidacy for Commerce secretary, some high-tech groups are already putting out statements of support. Thompson recently told Tech Daily Dose that, if chosen, he would be honored to serve in the new administration and multiple sources have said an announcement from President Barack Obama is imminent. Thompson was in Washington on Inauguration Day and spoke at a TechNet event about the importance of the technology industry in job creation and economic prosperity. He has reportedly also been making the rounds on Capitol Hill in recent weeks.
Computer and Communications Industry Association President Ed Black issued a statement Wednesday saying the Symantec executive "has run an innovative, global company for more than a decade and that experience is just what is needed for the economic challenges our nation faces." He also seems to have the political and policy skills necessary to succeed in Washington, Black said, noting that the nation "needs more innovation to grow the economy and a government that understands how to boost - or at least not suppress - that innovation."
"Thompson clearly has policy experience on issues ranging from cyber security and patent reform to export controls and international trade. We look forward to seeing what he could do leading the Commerce Department," said Black, whose group represents a number of technology firms in Washington including Microsoft, Google and Yahoo. Symantec, one of the world's most prominent computer security and systems management companies, is not presently a member of CCIA. Read more about Thompson here and watch a video of his TechNet speech here.
A key Senate staffer who helped navigate the rough waters of patent reform in the 110th Congress has been named associate counsel to President Barack Obama. Susan Davies most recently worked for Senate Judiciary Committee Chairman Patrick Leahy and spent much of the last two years trying bridge ideological gaps between the high-tech sector, pharmaceutical companies, inventors and other patent stakeholders. The controversial bill her boss introduced never made it to the floor. Negotiations with Judiciary ranking member Arlen Specter hit a roadblock in the spring after the senators could not arrive at a compromise on language that would change how damages are decided in patent infringement litigation. Leahy and Specter have both said they plan on continuing to work this year on legislation that would update the U.S. patent system.
Before becoming general counsel on the committee, Davies served in the Justice Department Antitrust Division, the Office of the Solicitor General, and the Office of Policy Development. Prior to that, she worked as a litigator at Sidley and Austin in Chicago. Davies also served as a law clerk to Supreme Court Justices Anthony Kennedy and Stephen Breyer and as a special counsel to former President Bill Clinton. Davies received her bachelor's degree from Yale University and her J.D. from the University of Chicago Law School. Davies will serve in the White House Counsel's Office, which is tasked with making sure the administration operates "under the highest standard of ethics and transparency for the American people," Obama said in a statement. A dozen other associate counsels were also named Wednesday.
The top three cable television news Web sites -- MSNBC.com, CNN.com, and FoxNews.com -- attracted a disproportionate increase in the number of Inauguration Day viewers compared to the Internet at large, Web analytics firm comScore reported Tuesday. The 4.1 million viewers who watched video on those sites during the 12-1 p.m. EST hour as President Barack Obama was sworn in one week ago represented a fourteen-fold increase from the previous Tuesday.
"Online video coverage of President Obama's inauguration appears to represent a significant incremental audience to TV, since it presumably includes many people at work who did not have access to a TV," comScore's Tania Yuki said in a press release. "As such, the 13 million online viewers during this time period likely represent a 32 percent addition to the reported 40 million people who viewed the inauguration on TV. And, that so much of this online audience flocked to the Web sites of the major cable TV news outlets reflects a direct channel shift from TV to the Internet."
Although countless video sites carried live inauguration streams, 30 percent of those who watched online gravitated toward cable TV news sites, Yuki said. Much like TV, people have a tendency to tune into specific channels when they consume certain content. Unlike TV, online video offers greater flexibility in how, where and when it can provide these experiences. CNN's Inauguration Day partnership with Facebook is one such example. The cable channel created a special version of its CNN.com Live video player that let users comment via their Facebook "status" on what was happening in real time.
Senate Sergeant At Arms Terry Gainer planned to engage in a discussion with members of the popular social networking site Facebook on Tuesday afternoon about crowd control problems that occurred on Inauguration Day. Thousands of people with prized tickets to President Barack Obama's swearing in last Tuesday were held in a tunnel under the National Mall and missed the ceremony. More than 5,000 of them joined a Facebook group page called "Survivors of the Purple Tunnel of Doom."
The Joint Congressional Committee on Inaugural Ceremonies quickly apologized for the incident, attributing the problem to unprecedented crowds and many unticketed people moving toward the Capitol and into the 3rd Street Tunnel where the ticket holders were directed. Gainer agreed to log on to Facebook and answer questions on a discussion board for an hour, beginning at 4:30 p.m. The specific thread will not be posted until Gainer signs on and the Web address can be found here. The Facebook announcement ends with the plea: "Please be respectful."
Update: In his 1,000 word welcome, Gainer apologized to those who did not get on Capitol grounds, were stuck in the tunnel, had negative interactions with police officers, and those who experienced all three situations. The number of citizens adversely affected remains unclear, Gainer wrote, but the information he was given was less than 5,000. He has since seen photos from the tunnel and streets near the purple gates and watched hours of video. "I saw thousands of people in massive groups...They yelled for information and guidance. It apparently fell on deaf ears. Whether it is 5,000 or 10,000, it is too many," he said.
Google Maps now has a clear satellite view of the vice president's residence in a development that curiously coincides with the departure of Dick Cheney, the Los Angeles Times, AFP and others reported Monday. The mansion had been digitally blurred on Google Earth during former President Bush's second term in office. Read more here.
My colleague Winter Casey spoke with former FCC chief Kevin Martin recently about what advice he would offer his successor at the agency and the key issues he anticipates the commission will be tackling in 2009. The Q&A was published on NationalJournal.com's Lost In Transition blog. Some highlights:
Q: What advice would you like to give to whoever takes over as FCC commissioner
Martin: I would tell them that they should make sure and look hard at the facts and the underlying arguments that are being made and -- while they will have whatever ideology they bring to the issues -- they should be prepared to actually examine the underlying facts and have it be more of a fact-based decision-making process as opposed to just an ideological one.
Q: Is there anything in the telecom realm that needs to be changed that you think could move forward with bipartisan support this year?
Martin: I think that we need to make changes to our universal service mechanism to make sure that we move it from a voice-grade connections to broadband connections. We should make some more progress on cable rates -- cable rates have doubled over the last decade and I think consumers need relief in terms of additional choices and additional competition. And I think there needs to be a continued emphasis on how we make sure the regulatory environment provides an opportunity and incentive for people to invest in the infrastructure and at the same time maintain an open platform to any kinds of application or devices on the edge.
Read the rest of the Q&A here.
A trade group that represents Google, Microsoft, Sun Microsystems and other high-tech firms in Washington urged President Barack Obama on Monday to appoint leaders at the Commerce Department and Patent and Trademark Office to who can bring reform and encourage innovation. "We have to recognize that the entire intellectual property system - patents, copyrights and trademarks - is in crisis and loosing credibility," Computer and Communications Industry Association President Ed Black said. "IP policy has been administered with a sort of 'you're with us or against us approach' and you couldn't propose reforms without being pigeonholed as anti-IP," he said, noting that he believes too much IP protection can be as harmful as too little.
CCIA also asked the new administration to designate an undersecretary for intellectual property who can address the broad challenges in innovation policy facing the nation. "We need someone who is a visionary, as well as a manager and a diplomat," Black said. The PTO can be important to making innovation work, but it needs to be connected to broader thinking about innovation and concerned with results, not just churning out patents, he said in a press release. In addition, CCIA has advocated for an independent Institute for Innovation Economics and Patent Policy to provide evidence-based analysis -- a key element to making the system work for all. Obama's picks for Commerce secretary and PTO director have not been unveiled but buzz is building about Symantec CEO John Thompson for a Cabinet post.
FunnyorDie.com's latest Internet video sensation, "High-Five Inauguration" includes an impressive line-up of media, political and Hollywood celebrities who were in Washington for President Barack Obama's swearing in. It's worth a look.
From Friday's daily press briefing with White House press secretary Robert Gibbs:
Reporter: Did the President give his email address to anybody in that bipartisan congressional meeting today?
Gibbs: I was going to think of something cute on the email address, but nothing comes to mind that would be good. I think we covered the BlackBerry yesterday, that there's a small group of people that are able to BlackBerry with the President so that he can stay in touch with them.
Gibbs: I think that the President has certainly asked members of Congress that have ideas to call the White House. I know that Rahm [Emanuel] has certainly given out his cell phone number to members of the House, the Senate and probably a lot of you all in here -- (laughter) -- to stay in touch if people have ideas that meet the President's test of getting the economy moving again.
Reporter: On his BlackBerry, Robert -- the President said yesterday when he left here that it wasn't up and running yet. Is it up and running today?
Gibbs: I will check... I believe that it is. But I will -- I will double check on that.
President Barack Obama on Thursday nominated former FTC Commissioner Christine Varney for assistant attorney general for antitrust -- a position that has become increasingly important as more high-tech, telecommunications and media mergers and acquisitions face regulatory scrutiny. Varney, who has been partner at Hogan & Hartson since 1997 most recently served as personnel counsel to the Obama transition team and has extensive experience in Internet and technology law.
While at the FTC, Varney pioneered the application of innovation market theory analysis to transactions in both high-tech and biotechnology fields, according to a White House personnel press release. She also focused her efforts on healthcare issues, enforcing the antitrust laws in that industry, while also encouraging the government agencies to be more receptive to innovative delivery modes and models. At Hogan & Hartson, her clients have included the American Hospital Association, Internet auction site eBay, Sun Microsystems, and Dow Jones before its acquisition by News Corp.
In related news, David Kris was appointed assistant attorney general for national security. He is currently deputy general counsel and chief compliance officer media conglomerate Time Warner. Kris previously served as associate deputy attorney general where his unclassified responsibilities included supervising the government's use of the Foreign Intelligence Surveillance Act, representing department at the National Security Council, briefing and testifying before Congress.
In his first daily news briefing on Thursday, White House press secretary Robert Gibbs shed new light on President Barack Obama's BlackBerry. He told reporters that the commander-in-chief will have a handheld device that will allow him to "stay in touch with senior staff and a small group of personal friends in a way that will be limited and security is enhanced" to ensure effective, protected communication. Those who will be in touch with Obama via Blackberry will be briefed before he is turned loose with his device, Gibbs said. He declined to provide details about who will and will not have e-mail privileges.
The presumption from the White House counsel's office is that most e-mails will be subject to the Presidential Records Act, which has some narrow exemptions for strictly personal exchanges. "[Obama] believes it's a way of keeping in touch with folks -- a way of doing it outside of getting stuck in a bubble," Gibbs said. He said he has received e-mails from Obama (but not in the last couple of days) that range from strictly business content to questions about why his favorite football team did or didn't perform on any given game.
Former Republican National Committee Web whiz Patrick Ruffini thinks President Barack Obama's new WhiteHouse.gov is pretty but he was expecting something "a bit more majestic." The political consultant wrote on his EngageDC blog that: "Obama's design efforts have gotten progressively more workmanlike since the campaign site was refreshed with ethereal, cloud-like design in early 2008. I was expecting a return to something more like that now that Obama actually is the president, rather than pretending to be the president with fake seals and federal imagery."
Other thoughts from Ruffini:
▪ The large, rotating headline feature area to drive key messages was long overdue on a White House site, and the implementation is superb.
▪ A departure from previous Obama sites, WhiteHouse.gov is built in Microsoft's proprietary .NET framework, something that is sure to cause no small degree of consternation among the President's devotees in the open source community.
▪ I am surprised that the Obama team is not doing more to collect e-mail addresses, sticking with the traditional upper right hand placement of the e-mail signup box but little else.
▪ The design seems to be influenced by Andy Rutledge's 2006 critique and suggested alternative, which consisted mostly of making the homepage a glorified sitemap. The current homepage isn't quite that bad, though the extended footer is evocative of it.
David Almacy, who left his post as White House Internet director for former President Bush to join the public relations firm Waggener Edstrom, declined to opine: "Think I am going to wait and see where they go with it. It's only day two," he said in an e-mail.
The White House Web team is still working out some kinks as the Obama administration transitions to a new site.
Thousands of people with premium tickets to President Barack Obama's swearing on Tuesday were held in a tunnel under the National Mall and missed the ceremony altogether. A day later, they are rallying on social networking site Facebook.com on a group page called "Survivors of the Purple Tunnel of Doom." As of Wednesday evening, there were about 2,300 members. The Joint Congressional Committee on Inaugural Ceremonies apologized for the incident, attributing the problem to unprecedented crowds and many unticketed people moving toward the Capitol and into the 3rd Street Tunnel where the ticket holders were directed, according to the AP.
"It's remarkable that there wasn't a riot," wrote one, Marc Lynch. "I rode the Metro home with a lot of people who had been turned away, including an elderly African-American woman muttering over and over to herself that it had been one of the worst experiences of her life." Another, Denise Fort, wrote that her family came from New Mexico with an 11-year-old child only to wait three hours and miss everything but the cannons. "It was dangerous to be pressed against each other, occasionally being pushed forward, but the high spirits of the crowd helped," she said.
Premium television channel HBO is demanding that video sharing Web site YouTube take down postings of the free public concert that preceded the inauguration of President Barack Obama, including snippets filmed on attendees' cellular phone cameras, according to blog reports on Wednesday. HBO reportedly is claiming it has the exclusive copyright for the video of this event because it purchased a six months license from the inaugural committee, which owns the license. The concert was broadcast on HBO (which descrambled the channel so basic cable subscribers could watch) and on HBO.com.
CCIA President Ed Black denounced HBO's alleged actions, saying that "if their ridiculous interpretation of the law is true, tens of thousands of citizens recording memories at this historic public event could have broken the law and be held liable for statutory damages that can be up to $150,000 each." Black argued that those sharing their memories on YouTube or other formats should be covered under copyright's "fair use" provision. "It's yet another example of the outrageous, excessive attitude of certain big content companies," he said.
The New York Times reported that the "We Are One" extravaganza at the foot of the Lincoln Memorial cost HBO $2.5 million. Within HBO's 29 million subscribing households, the live broadcast and the two prime-time replays on Sunday were watched by a total of 4.1 million viewers. The HBO.com video was viewed about 700,000 times on Sunday and Monday, HBO said.
Business Software Alliance General Counsel Neil MacBride will be moving into one of the top positions at the Justice Department in the Obama Administration. MacBride has been named associate deputy attorney general, according to the trade group. In his new position, MacBride -- who has been BSA's vice president of anti-piracy and general counsel -- will serve on the senior leadership team of Attorney General-designee Eric Holder and will help manage the agency's 115,000 employees and $22 billion budget.
MacBride will also manage the criminal components of the Justice Department, including the 93 United States Attorneys Offices, the Criminal Division, FBI, Drug Enforcement Administration, and Bureau of Alcohol Tobacco and Firearms and other entities. MacBride will advise the attorney general on criminal justice, law enforcement, and intellectual property issues and oversee the policy and legislative offices in DOJ. Members of BSA include Adobe, Apple, Cisco Systems, Dell, HP, IBM, Intel, Microsoft, and Quest. According to the Center for Responsive Politics, he has lobbied for BSA in the past.
Prior to joining BSA, MacBride served for four years as counsel on the Senate Judiciary Committee and four years of service as an assistant attorney in the Criminal Division of DOJ. He has also been the chief counsel and staff director to Vice President Joseph Biden when he was in the Senate. MacBride once worked as an attorney at a law firm where he focused on white collar defense and legislative/regulatory issues. He also served as a judicial law clerk for District Judge Henry Coke Morgan, Jr. in the Eastern District of Virginia. MacBride is a graduate of the University of Virginia School of Law. -- Winter Casey
Google's inaugural party didn't disappoint as Hollywood, Hill and high-tech celebrities mingled at the Andrew W. Mellon Auditorium on Tuesday night. Here's a quick rundown of the Internet company's A-list guests:
▪ From Hollywood: Jessica Alba, Ben Affleck, Casey Affleck, John Cusack, Glenn Close, Tate Donovan, Joaquin Phoenix and Sarah Silverman.
▪ From high-tech: Google CEO Eric Schmidt, Google co-founder Larry Page, YouTube co-founder Chad Hurley, Google chief legal officer David Drummond, and Craigslist founder Craig Newmark.
▪ From the Hill: Sens. Chuck Schumer, D-N.Y.; Roland Burris, D-Ill., John Kerry, D-Mass., and Rep. Zoe Lofgren, D-Calif.
▪ From the Obama transition team: Jon Favreau, Beth Noveck, and John Podesta
▪ From the media: CNN's Wolf Blitzer, NBC's Dan Abrams, MSNBC's Willie Geist, Newsweek's Michael Isikoff, and Arianna Huffington of HuffingtonPost.com
"Welcome to the new WhiteHouse.gov. I'm Macon Phillips, the Director of New Media for the White House and one of the people who will be contributing to the blog. A short time ago, Barack Obama was sworn in as the 44th president of the United States and his new administration officially came to life. One of the first changes is the White House's new website, which will serve as a place for the President and his administration to connect with the rest of the nation and the world."
"Millions of Americans have powered President Obama's journey to the White House, many taking advantage of the internet to play a role in shaping our country's future. WhiteHouse.gov is just the beginning of the new administration's efforts to expand and deepen this online engagement. Just like your new government, WhiteHouse.gov and the rest of the Administration's online programs will put citizens first. Our initial new media efforts will center around three priorities..." Read the full post here.
John Thompson, chairman and CEO of computer security and systems management firm Symantec -- who is rumored to be a finalist for the job of Commerce secretary in the new administration -- spoke at the TechNet reception on the rooftop of the Hay Adams hotel moments before President Barack Obama passed by on his parade route. "Clearly we need to get the financial engine running -- but we also have to make sure that in that process we create as many jobs as possible -- that we put Americans back to work," he said. "No industry in this country has done a better job of putting people to work -- of creating more jobs -- than the tech sector has." "We are the driving force of the U.S. economy," he said. Thompson told Tech Daily Dose that, if chosen, he would be honored to serve in the Obama administration.
Thousands flocked to the Newseum on Monday night for one of Washington's hottest Inauguration Eve parties. The soiree was hosted by pundit Arianna Huffington and her left-leaning news and opinion Web site HuffingtonPost.com and was sponsored by cable giant Comcast, social networking site MySpace.com and others. Rock legend Sting, pop singer Sheryl Crow and hip-hop star Will.i.am performed for the boisterous crowd. Intel also offered demos of the ePALS online community. Watch a video clip of the scene and Will.i.am's "It's A New Day" number here. More photos after the jump...
The stars of NBC-Universal as well as corporate executives, lawmakers, lobbyists and members of the media schmoozed over mimosas, sushi and sweets at the National Museum of Women in the Arts on Monday. Among those who sipped and snacked at the company's pre-inaugural brunch included Matt Lauer, Meredith Vieira and Al Roker of the "Today" show; "Nightly News" anchor emeritus Tom Brokaw; MSNBC's "Morning Joe" ensemble and a host of other famous faces.
NBC-Universal CEO Jeff Zucker and General Electric Chairman Jeffrey Immelt greeted the crowd (see video above) and demos of Hulu.com, a streaming video Web site launched by NBC and Fox in 2007, took place on the mezzanine. Immelt said Tuesday's swearing in of President-elect Barack Obama will be a momentous occasion but the next day "we'll all wake up in the worst economic crisis in our lifetime." He capped off his remarks by saying: "Have a great day, and on Wednesday morning, lets go back to work."
On Saturday, the FBI's Washington Field Office provided a demonstration of its tactical response vehicles that will be on standby during Tuesday's inauguration of President-elect Barack Obama. The emergency rigs include a state-of-the-art mobile command post, an armored assault vehicle, WMD response vehicles, evidence recovery team vehicles, and bomb trucks. The photo above is a shot inside the high-tech mobile command center. Upon closer inspection the monitors appear to be tuned to: Martha Stewart's show, a soap opera and a Care Bears cartoon (click here for a larger photo). Read more here.
Change.org -- not to be confused with President-elect Barack Obama's transition team Web site Change.gov -- announced the winners of its "Ideas for Change in America" competition on Friday. Since Election Day more than 650,000 votes were cast for more than 7,500 ideas for how the Obama administration and 111th Congress should change America. Change.org founder Ben Rattray followed the announcement by launching a national advocacy campaign behind each winning idea.
The 10 winning ideas reflect diverse interests like: securing universal heath care, lesbian/gay/bisexual transgender rights, and sustainable green energy. The list also includes ideas often left off of the national agenda but with powerful grassroots support, organizers said. Those included: restoring civil liberties, ending the prohibition on medicinal marijuana, and advancing peace through new government institutions. All the winners can be viewed at www.change.org/ideas.
The National Press Club event included a panel discussion about how the incoming administration and advocacy groups can use the Web to deepen civic participation. Scheduled speakers included Chris Hughes, director of My.BarackObama.com and co-founder of Facebook; Jose Antonio Vargas, political reporter for the Washington Post; Democratic strategist Joe Trippi; MySpace political director Lee Brenner; and Macon Phillips, director of new media for the presidential transition team.
The Presidential Inaugural Committee has selected Microsoft's Silverlight technology to enable live and on-demand video streaming of President-elect Barack Obama's swearing-in ceremony at www.pic2009.org on Tuesday, the high-tech company announced. Additionally, as part of its efforts to hold the most open and accessible inauguration in history, the committee will stream video of a Baltimore, Md. event on the Whistle Stop Tour that will take Obama and Vice President-elect Joe Biden to D.C. from Philadelphia.
"Microsoft is proud to be part of this event by helping to bring the inauguration activities online," Microsoft general counsel Brad Smith said in a press release "Just as during the campaign itself, Internet technology is enabling people around the world to participate more directly in historic events in new and exciting ways." In August the 2008 Democratic National Convention Committee used Silverlight to stream convention proceedings, including Obama's acceptance speech.
President-elect Barack Obama should appoint a Patent and Trademark Office director who is a lawyer with patent and trademark experience; is knowledgeable of both domestic and international intellectual property laws; and has management skills sufficient to oversee the operations of the ever-growing agency, the American Bar Association's IP law section said in recommendations sent this week to the transition team. U.S. law contains a similar but less demanding statement of qualifications for the director, the ABA pointed out.
The group said the PTO should be statutorily allowed to keep the fees it collects from applicants and not have that money diverted to other federal projects. While congressional appropriators and the Bush administration have let the office do this in recent years, the change should be codified in law, the ABA said. Another recommendation was to expand the right of the public to submit "prior art" in pending patent applications -- a modification that would ensure an examiner has all the relevant information. The ABA also suggested the PTO take a number of steps to ensure that it retains and recruits a high- quality workforce. Read ABA's full submission here.
From NationalJournal.com's Lost In Transition blog...
Those preparing to depart from the Executive Office of the President may be packing up their picture frames and coffee mugs, but, because of a district court ruling made Wednesday, they'll have to turn over their memory sticks, CDs and DVDs before they walk out the door. United States District Judge Henry Kennedy Jr. granted an emergency motion from the National Security Archive that requires the EOP to search all of its computer workstations. All EOP employees must surrender any media that may contain e-mails from March 2003 to October 2005.
The archive and Citizens for Responsibility and Ethics have an ongoing suit against the EOP and the National Archives and Records Administration, seeking to preserve as many as 5 million White House e-mails that were declared missing during the Scooter Libby trial. The archive is hoping to find out more about how the e-mails were lost by looking at the EOP media. All of the physical records from the White House will be carted away to NARA on the morning of Jan. 20.
National Security Archive counsel Meredith Fuchs told National Journal that there is a hearing today to address whether additional steps need to be taken during the physical transfer of e-mail backup tapes. Fuchs spoke with the magazine in November about the need for a stringent e-mail archiving system in the executive branch.
The head of President-elect Barack Obama's technology, innovation and government reform team today said recent estimates from "very reliable sources" about the size, scope, and structure of the proposed broadband portion of the forthcoming economic stimulus package that Obama wants to send to Congress are "off target." In his first public speech since joining the transition team, Blair Levin would did not elaborate on the plan, only to say that the team wants to work collaboratively with Capitol Hill leaders and is driven by "letting the best ideas win."
"People are confusing national broadband goals generally with the very specific goals of broadband in the economic recovery package," he told the Congressional Internet Caucus's State of the Net conference. "It misses the different problem sets we're solving for." Levin, who refused to take questions from reporters after his speech, is on leave from his position as managing director of the investment firm Stifel Nicolaus and he previously served as chief of staff for former FCC Chairman Reed Hundt. Hundt is another key Obama backer.
Two prominent business executives' names are being circulated among Washington insiders as potential nominees for Commerce secretary just a week after New Mexico Gov. Bill Richardson -- President-elect Barack Obama's first choice -- withdrew his name, citing a pending investigation into a company that has done business with his state government. Several high-tech industry officials and congressional aides say John Thompson, chairman and CEO of computer security and systems management firm Symantec, and former Time Warner chairman Richard Parsons, are two of the top contenders for the job. A spokesman for Obama's transition team declined to comment.
Thompson announced in November he would retire this spring, and a source confirmed that Thompson has been talking with Obama's transition team. Thompson was spotted on Capitol Hill last week, presumably for meetings with key lawmakers about the Commerce job and Symantec's legislative agenda under its incoming CEO, Enrique Salem, officials said. He is no stranger to Washington, having served on President Bush's National Infrastructure Advisory Committee -- a panel that focused on protecting U.S. national security and economic critical infrastructures. His name had been floated as a contender for the federal government's first-ever chief technology officer.
Parsons, who some sources said is already being vetted by the transition team, became Time Warner chairman in 2003, served as its CEO from May 2002 to December 2007 and stepped down from the board last month. Parsons serves on Obama's economic advisory panel but is also on Citigroup's board. He is said to be a leading candidate to become chairman of the embattled financial giant -- a factor that could impact his Commerce candidacy. Earlier in his career, Parsons worked as counsel for New York Gov. Nelson Rockefeller and followed him to Washington when he became vice president. He also worked as a senior White House aide under former President Gerald Ford.
The Future of Privacy Forum on Tuesday recommended that President-elect Barack Obama appoint a chief privacy officer to promote fair information practices in the public and private sector and ensure that interactive tools used by government are transparent to citizens. Obama has already expressed interest in naming a chief technology officer within the White House. The recently launched group, which is backed by AT&T, also called for a standard definition of "personal information" and said the FTC should be given more technology and research resources as well as enhanced criminal law enforcement support.
The recommendations follow a December letter to Obama by 30 privacy, consumer and civil liberties groups that stressed the importance of protecting privacy in his administration. Obama has stated support for strengthening of privacy protection by harnessing the power of technology to hold government and businesses accountable for violations of personal privacy. The coalition said in the letter that there "is a clear need to address the spiraling problems of identity theft, security breaches, and the commercialization of personal information."
"We are in an era where the personal use of data brings opportunities for advancements that can improve millions of lives, but the misuse of data can also negatively impact millions of citizens," FPF co-chair Christopher Wolf said in a release. "Traditionally, government privacy protections were intended to limit the collection of data by government about its citizens. In today's web 2.0 environment, citizens expect to interact electronically by exchanging information with government leaders and agencies," added co-chair Jules Polonetsky. "Charting the appropriate user controls around this data is critical."
On Inauguration Eve, progressive grassroots organization MoveOn.org; the Service Employees International Union; actresses Rosario Dawson and Heather Graham; and R.E.M. frontman Michael Stipe will host an invitation-only soiree in honor of Manifest Hope: DC, an art exhibit celebrating the swearing in of President-elect Barack Obama. The event will feature performances by Rolling Stone's 2008 "Artist to Watch" Santogold; Hip Hop Hall of Fame artists De La Soul; and 2009 Grammy nominee Moby, who will DJ after the live set. Comedian Sarah Silverman and others are set to attend, officials said.
The Manifest Hope: DC art gallery, which features an array of the nation's most talented visual artists under one roof to mark the inauguration, will be open Jan.17-19. The project's goal is to encourage artists and activists to maintain the momentum from the presidential campaign and "bring real reform in three key areas: healthcare, worker's rights, and the green economy." On Jan. 19, Shepard Fairey's iconic "Hope" image will be on display at the Smithsonian National Portrait Gallery. It will be the first portrait of Obama to be hosted at the gallery. For more information on the gallery, click here.
A trade group representing American songwriters told President-elect Barack Obama's transition team last week that network neutrality as defined in recent debates on Capitol Hill "is a principle with surface appeal" that proposes that Internet service providers should not interfere with or regulate traffic on their own networks. But the practical result of such a barrier would be more piracy -- a problem that has been devastating for musicians, the Songwriters Guild of America said in a briefing document.
The solution lies not with net neutrality proposals but in an emerging common ground between creators and some ISPs, SGA said. The group believes ISPs must be allowed the flexibility to manage traffic on their networks in a manner that: (1) permits, protects and encourages legitimate online commerce; (2) does not discriminate among providers of legitimate content; (3) deters illegitimate conduct such as music piracy; and (4) provides the ISPs with sufficient incentive to continue to build and expand their networks.
Net neutrality proposals as now structured could prevent forward-looking ISPs from taking such actions, SGA said. Recent debates over the topic have positioned ISPs in opposition to the consumer and have completely ignored creators' rights, the group said. SGA President Rick Carnes has testified repeatedly before Congress and the FCC against "an absolute policy of net neutrality that would simply enshrine the current mass looting of the works ofsongwriters and music copyright owners."
Cable giant Comcast and social networking site MySpace.com are pairing up with
the left-leaning news and opinion Web site HuffingtonPost.com next week to "celebrate change in Washington, the rise of new media, and a renewed commitment to service and the environment." They are hosting an invitation-only Inauguration Eve party at the Newseum with a handful of others. Hip-hop star Will.i.am, who made headlines during the campaign season for his "Yes We Can" YouTube video in support of now President-elect Barack Obama, is slated to perform.
Other hosts and sponsors include the AARP; Global Green USA, which is focused on stemming global climate change through green building; wind turbine manufacturer Vestas; the Service Nation campaign; clothing designer Kenneth Cole; the Musk Foundation -- which provides grants for research in the fields of renewable energy, space exploration, pediatrics, and science and engineering education -- and social change grant-maker Atlantic Philanthropies. For more inauguration party coverage, click here, here and here.
My NationalJournal.com colleague Theresa Poulson has produced this timely Web video about the oft discussed high-tech prowess of President-elect Barack Obama. Take a look.
Once President-elect Barack Obama announces the nation's first chief technology officer, the White House tech guru will have no shortage of recommendations from the private sector on how to spend his time and energy. Intel Corporation CTO Justin Rattner, for one, plans on sending the chosen one a list of suggestions -- with a little help from his friends. Attendees who visited the computer chip manufacturer's mega-booth at the Consumer Electronics Show in Las Vegas this week were invited to share their thoughts via an online questionnaire -- and enter to win a an ultra-portable "netbook" computer. An Intel official said hundreds of people completed the survey on the first day of CES alone.
From CongressDaily's AM Edition:
President-elect Barack Obama will have a greater interest in and appreciation for the technology industry than has been the norm in the Bush administration, a panel of public policy experts agreed Wednesday. Obama's use of the Internet during the campaign helped him mobilize supporters and win the election -- and that momentum has continued through his transition team's multifaceted, content-rich Change.gov Web site. His plan to name the federal government's first chief technology officer -- a high-level White House staffer whose identity and job description has not been disclosed but could come to light this week -- is the most significant indicator of the importance Obama places on using technology to improve the business of government, they said. Read the full story here (subscription required).
President-elect Barack Obama is expected to draw an impressive crowd for what is being touted as a major economic speech at George Mason University on Thursday -- and at least one Washington high-tech industry leader was among the guests invited by the transition team. Dean Garfield, the Information Technology Industry Council's recently named president, will be in the audience, sources told Tech Daily Dose. Garfield, who replaced longtime chief Rhett Dawson late last year, is best known for helping to sink illegal Internet file-sharing operations Grokster and Kazaa. Before joining ITI, which represents Apple, Dell Computer, Hewlett-Packard, IBM and other major high-tech companies, he was chief strategic officer for the Motion Picture Association of America.
During his speech, Obama will make the case for urgent action on an American recovery and reinvestment plan that will save or create over three million jobs while investing in priorities like healthcare, energy, and education -- all of which he believes are necessary to keep the country strong and competitive in the 21st century. Additionally, Obama will call for "an open and honest discussion" about the recovery plan and will urge Congress to move quickly, according to excerpts of his prepared remarks released by the transition team. Like many groups inside the Beltway, ITI submitted a handful of recommendations for the new administration. That document can be found here.
About 15 minutes before Change.gov posted its latest list of transition donors, the folks at Blist.com got a phone call. It seems President-elect Barack Obama's staff had finished uploading its list of thousands of names and had created a widget to display on their site. Expect more traffic than normal. As Blist staffers arrived Monday morning, they manned e-mail accounts and replied to questions from new users who'd stumbled upon the site, which lets anyone post a database and make it searchable to the public for free. Others kept watch on the servers. "It is certainly a nice spike," said Jon Byrum, senior product manager at Blist. "Our servers have been able to handle it without a problem so far."
Obama's Web team might have newfound power to anoint aspiring technologies just by using them. For Blist -- which is still in beta testing, having launched only last February -- it's hard to imagine a better promotional vehicle. Just in the last day, the site was mentioned by dozens of blogs. Still, the leaders of Change.gov want to avoid appearing to endorse any product and would not comment on why they selected Blist, which has several competitors. The Obama team first contacted Blist a week earlier with questions about whether the Blist system could be revised so users could be warned if they left Change.gov while using the widget's features. The government requires the notice, and the president's team would like to use Blist's service, the company was told. Of course, Blist was happy to oblige.
Government officials, business executives and association leaders who support "technology serving humanity" will celebrate the inauguration of President-elect Barack Obama on Jan. 20 at the 2009 LINK-live Presidential Inaugural Gala being held at the Corcoran Gallery of Art. The $1,000 per ticket event -- one of the most wired presidential galas -- will promote the advancements of science, information and communications technologies (ICT) to address workforce development skills, e-government services, healthcare and telemedicine, and research and development of green ICT solutions for energy and environmental challenges.
The gala's steering committee will recognize four individuals for their commitment to science, technology and education in their area of expertise. They include: Secretary of State-designate Sen. Hillary Rodham Clinton, D-N.Y.; Nobel laureate physicist Steven Chu, who is Obama's nominee for Energy Secretary; Gen. James Jones, a retired a former Marine Corps commandant who has been tapped by Obama to serve as national security adviser; and Laura Chinchilla, former vice president of Costa Rica. The LINK-live program will be broadcast live on the Internet. The gala is also using Twitter, ScribbleLive, UStream and Flickr.
The event is being hosted by the LINK AMERICAS Foundation (LAF), The Alliance for Public Technology (APT), The Children's Partnership (TCP), Education Development Center (EDC) and the George Lucas Educational Foundation - Edutopia.
One of the nation's leading media and entertainment lawyers -- and a court crusader for the recording industry -- is President-elect Barack Obama's choice for associate attorney general. The announcement about the appointment of Tom Perrelli, currently managing partner of Jenner & Block's Washington, D.C. office and co-chair of the firm's entertainment and new media practice, was made Monday along with picks for several other Justice Department posts. If confirmed, Perrelli will not be new to DOJ headquarters. He served for two years in the late 1990s as counsel to Attorney General Janet Reno and subsequently rose to deputy assistant attorney general in the Clinton administration.
In 2005, Perrelli was named one of the nation's 40 most promising lawyers under 40 by The National Law Journal for exhibiting "extraordinary achievements" in his career. At Jenner & Block, he has represented the recording industry in intellectual property, technology, and anti-piracy litigation. Proceedings have included a host of cases arising under the Digital Millennium Copyright Act and a series of copyright royalty proceedings before the Copyright Royalty Board. Perrelli has also represented Democratic voters and elected officials in redistricting litigation arising out of the 2000 Census.
President-elect Barack Obama's transition team has a reputation for being tech-savvy -- and that extends to its record-keeping and disclosure through Change.gov. In keeping with Obama's pledge to run the most open and transparent transition in history, his staff is voluntarily releasing the names of its donors on a monthly basis through a nascent Web application called Blist. The Seattle-based start-up launched its program in beta form in February and is backed by Frazier Technology Ventures and Morgenthaler Ventures.
Having buy-in by Obama isn't a bad start for Blist founder Kevin Merrit who previously worked for FrontBridge Technologies and Microsoft. His invention is similar to an online spreadsheet, but users can join tables together, create nested tables, and layer on social networking features that allow users to find data created by others. As of Dec. 15, 2008, $3.8 million had been raised from 53,853 donors, according to the transition team's latest figures. The average donation is $70.62 per donor. Blist has raised $6.5 million in a first round of funding from venture capitalists, according to the VentureBeat blog. Review Obama's donor list here.
Just weeks after being tapped by President-elect Barack Obama to be Commerce Secretary, New Mexico Gov. Bill Richardson has withdrawn his name for the position, citing a pending probe into a company that has done business with his state government. Richardson issued a statement saying the federal grand jury investigation into a firm, which contributed to his political career and won a sizable state contract, "promises to extend for several weeks or, perhaps, even months."
Richardson, who would have led an agency that oversees the National Telecommunications and Information Administration, Patent and Trademark Office, and the National Institute of Standards and Technology, said he and his administration have "acted properly in all matters" and the investigation will bear out that fact. However, he concluded the probe would have forced "an untenable delay in the confirmation process." Obama issued a statement calling Richardson "an outstanding public servant" and said it is was a measure of his willingness to put the nation first that he removed himself from the running. Read more in CongressDaily (subscription required).
President-elect Barack Obama on Saturday reiterated his interest in overhauling the nation's healthcare system "to cut red tape, prevent medical mistakes, and help reduce healthcare costs by billions of dollars each year" through the power of information technology. In his weekly radio address, Obama said such changes would "save not only jobs, but money and lives." He also mentioned electronic medical records during a speech in December where he outlined a massive public-works program and a plan to "renew our information superhighway."
In this speech, he said "to make America, and our children, a success in this new global economy, we will build 21st century classrooms, labs, and libraries." Policymakers must enact an "American recovery and reinvestment plan that not only creates jobs in the short-term but spurs economic growth and competitiveness in the long-term," Obama said, adding that it must be designed in a new way. "We can't just fall into the old Washington habit of throwing money at the problem," he said. "We must make strategic investments that will serve as a down payment on our long-term economic future. We must demand vigorous oversight and strict accountability for achieving results."
Obama is scheduled to meet next week with leaders from both parties to discuss his plan. "There is no reason we can't do this. We are a people of boundless industry and ingenuity. We are innovators and entrepreneurs and have the most dedicated and productive workers in the world," he said in the speech, which was also posted on YouTube. "We have always triumphed in moments of trial by drawing on that great American spirit -- that perseverance, determination and unyielding commitment to opportunity on which our nation was founded. In this new year, let us resolve to do so once more."
Congress and President-elect Barack Obama's administration should include broadband-related investment in forthcoming legislation designed to promote economic stimulus, and the federal government needs to begin with better data about broadband availability, Massachusetts Secretary of Housing and Economic Development Daniel O'Connell urged the chairs of Obama's transition team in a letter last week. In particular, Congress should supplement the Broadband Data Improvement Act, which passed last October without appropriated or authorized funding levels. An earlier version had included $40 million for the Commerce Department to allocate to state-led initiatives.
O'Connell also urged flexibility in the way that states structure their individual broadband programs, extending stimulus funds to spur broadband demand among the poor, and recognizing that some forms of communication, like satellite service, are inferior methods of delivering broadband, according to BroadbandCensus.com. His letter included a five-page memo on the role of broadband investment in the economic recovery and laid out approaches states are taking with regard to broadband infrastructure. Read the story here.
From NationalJournal.com's Lost in Transition blog:
Barack Obama's followers are ready, willing and able to continue their grassroots support for the president-elect -- and at higher rates than their Republican peers are willing to help the GOP -- according to a study released Tuesday by the Pew Internet and American Life Project. Obama supporters have already been active on the Web: According to the report, 27 percent of wired Obama voters (those who use the Web) have gone online to find news about the transition or used the interactive transition site change.gov.
That these users tend to be younger and more affluent is no surprise. But black voters, who traditionally have less of a presence on the Web, are going online at higher rates: 31 percent of wired black Obama voters are getting involved online, compared to 25 percent of their white counterparts. And according to Quantcast, an Internet audience measurement service, 20 percent of the visitors to change.gov are black, far surpassing Internet averages. Meanwhile, the GOP continues to struggle to draw its faithful online, continuing their comparatively poor online fundraising and netroots support from the 2008 election.
Read the full story here.
From NationalJournal.com's Lost in Transition blog:
As a new, tech-savvy president prepares to take the reins in Washington, federal IT contractors are positioning themselves to be a part of the action. Microsoft Federal, for instance, has established the temporary post of "chief transition officer" to help the company forge a working relationship with the incoming administration.
Nextgov's Allan Holmes spoke recently with Microsoft's new "CTO," Carolyn Brubaker, about what this new position entails -- and about the potential role of President-elect Obama's yet-to-be-named chief technology officer.
Nextgov: What have you heard about what the role of the chief technology officer might be?
Brubaker: We're not quite sure what that's going to look like now, but from some of the information we are getting it looks like it's going to be an external adviser, someone who's really advising on national technology issues, with the primary goal of citizen outreach and engagement. That's a big objective of President-elect Obama's.
They have an intense group of leaders who are looking at technology. We have received some inquiries, and from what I can tell they're just not only looking at technology, they're looking at reforming the process.
The Consumer Electronics Association is getting in on the Inauguration Day action by hosting an invitation-only daytime party on Jan. 20 in honor of President-elect Barack Obama's swearing in. The high-tech trade group, which will have finished hosting its massive annual expo in Las Vegas earlier in the month, has rented out the 701 Pennsylvania Avenue Restaurant & Bar for a few hours in the afternoon -- not a bad spot to see and be seen on the historic day. LG Electronics will supply (presumably large) televisions for those who wish to watch the festivities inside, rather than braving what could be cold, winter weather outside. Related reading: RIAA, Google, Hollywood & High-Tech parties.
As the tech community eagerly awaits more details on President-elect Barack Obama's proposed chief technology officer post, many have made wish lists of what they would like to see come of the first-of-its-kind job. In a recent interview with NationalJournal.com's Theresa Poulson, Google's vice president and "chief Internet evangelist," Vinton Cerf, who has been rumored to be on the short list for the job, outlined what he might include on the CTO's agenda and how the position could invigorate the economy by creating jobs through investments in infrastructure.
NJ: What challenges do you see for this proposed CTO position?
Cerf: I see a lot of them. I think the ambition level is laudable. Taking President-elect Obama at his word, he's expressed a desire that the U.S. government make better use of information technology. And that message fits very well with another message I understand that he's expressed, which is to invest in American infrastructure. I think that applies equally well to the civilian and private sector -- the consumer sector -- and also to the government itself and its facilities.
Read edited excerpts (and audio clips) from the Q&A here.
"Right now, in labs, classrooms and companies across America, our leading minds are hard at work chasing the next big idea, on the cusp of breakthroughs that could revolutionize our lives. But history tells us that they cannot do it alone." Read the entire transcript here. CongressDaily coverage can be found here.
President-elect Barack Obama is expected to announce John Holdren, a Harvard physicist, as his science adviser on Saturday. Holdren is a professor of environmental policy at the university and serves as director of the Kennedy School's program on science, technology, and public policy. From 2005 to 2008 he served as president-elect, president, and chair of the board of the American Association for the Advancement of Science. Holdren's work focuses on causes and consequences of global environmental change, analysis of energy technologies and policies, ways to reduce the dangers from nuclear weapons and materials, and the interaction of content and process in science and technology policy, according to his official bio.
Rep. Rush Holt, D-N.J., himself a professional physicist, lauded the nomination. He said he believed Holdren to be "the best person I can imagine for this job," having worked with him for decades on a variety of issues. Obama will also nominate Oregon State University marine biologist Jane Lubchenco as head of the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration. "Those who know Jane Lubchenco know she is a most highly respected research scientist and a long-time leader in bringing science to policymakers and the public," Holt said. "I expect her to be an outstanding leader at the helm of NOAA."
President-elect Barack Obama's pick of former Dallas Mayor Ron Kirk for his U.S. Trade Representative slot on Friday was embraced by key intellectual property stakeholders as it was being panned by many in the labor community. The U.S. Chamber of Commerce's Mark Esper wrote on the business group's blog that Kirk has a solid track record of appreciating the value of America's IP-intensive industries and quoted from a 1998 Dallas Morning News article to make his point.
As mayor of Dallas, Kirk praised a plan to bring more biotechnology companies into the city calling it "an opportunity to develop an entire new economy based upon intellectual property that we already have principally coming from Southwestern Medical Center and our entire medical infrastructure.'" The plan, which developed a long-term vision for the city's future, was aimed at making Dallas a national hub for inventions. Esper noted that the next USTR will face a host of important IP issues and the Chamber is prepared to work with Kirk "in defense of innovation at home and abroad."
Meanwhile, Motion Picture Association of America Chairman Dan Glickman issued a statement congratulating Kirk, saying he "has the leadership skills and experience to forge a successful trade agenda." "Trade and related issues are crucial to the vitality of the film industry and paramount to the recovery of the global economy... We look forward to working with him," Glickman said.
One of the hottest tickets in Washington next month will surely be the Recording Industry Association of America's inauguration after party featuring Grammy Award-winning R&B artist Rihanna. The RIAA announced Friday that the Def Jam recording artist best known for her hits "Umbrella," "Don't Stop the Music" and "Take a Bow," would be headlining their soiree at Ibiza nightclub on Jan. 20. Proceeds from the event will benefit Feeding America, the nation's largest hunger-relief organization.
RIAA Chairman Mitch Bainwol issued a statement saying his trade group was delighted to partner with Feeding America and bring Rihanna to the nation's capital for the invitation-only celebration. "With her unique sound and addictive melodies that have garnered numerous Grammy awards and countless other music accolades, Rihanna is the perfect fit to entertain our inauguration audience as we salute the historic Obama administration," he said. Other special celebrity guests and entertainers will be announced in the coming weeks.
Here's the answer to the question many in high-tech sector might be asking: "Does anyone know what Google has up its sleeve for Inauguration Day?" The Internet giant -- whose top executives have made no attempt to hide their enthusiasm for President-elect Barack Obama -- is partnering with the Leadership Conference on Civil Rights to host a Jan. 20 soiree at the Andrew W. Mellon Auditorium. The event invitation promises a "break from traditional inaugural balls" and a celebration of a "new era of open government."
As part of the invitation-only gala, Google is encouraging attendees to donate to nonprofits like LCCR's education and research arm; the D.C. Central Kitchen, which feeds thousands of needy individuals in the region; the Sunlight Foundation, a transparency watchdog; Green for All, which advocates for environmentally friendly jobs and industry; and One Economy, a group that brings broadband and tech training to low-income people. The company will match all monies received. Read about other tech-related festivities in this post.
Google's chief Internet evangelist Vint Cerf isn't sure exactly what President-elect Barack Obama's proposed chief technology officer position would entail but he recently told NationalJournal.com that a national CTO could do a lot to stoke the country's economic engine. Cerf, an Obama donor who is reported to be on the short list for the first-of-its-kind position, said that the transition team has not approached him.
Regardless of who is offered the CTO gig, he said, "if the job is of the sort that I imagine and hope it might be, I'd certainly want to be supportive of the party in that role." He also said there is great potential for the CTO to create jobs through investments in American infrastructure -- including infrastructure that supports information technology and energy, particularly electrical power grids and tools that manage energy consumption. Fulfilling such a task, however, would be hard, Cerf said.
Read more about Cerf's hopes for the CTO position on Monday in an Insider Interview with NationalJournal.com's Theresa Poulson.
A high-tech trade group representing Cisco Systems, Hewlett-Packard, IBM, Microsoft and others lauded President-elect Barack Obama's potential choice for U.S. Trade Representative -- former Dallas Mayor Ron Kirk. The Information Technology Industry Council's vice president for technology and trade John Neuffer said his sector has worked with Kirk before and "knows well his keen intellect and policy smarts." Meanwhile labor groups were less than enthusiastic about the news.
Neuffer said Kirk would be a "great choice" for the job since Texas leads the United States in imports and he said that that Kirk's background as mayor of one of that state's largest cities makes him uniquely qualified to advance the U.S. trade agenda in the coming administration. But labor reportedly was unreceptive to the selection. "We don't see a whole lot of evidence that Ron Kirk is interested in going in a new, substantive direction on trade," one labor official told CongressDaily. Read that story here (subscription required).
Washington, D.C. will be abuzz with inauguration-related parties and other events from Jan. 15 through President-elect Barack Obama's Jan. 20 swearing in. Amid all the political and state society soirees, there's at least one high-tech event: the Bytes & Books Inaugural Ball, which will be held on Inauguration Day at the Folger Shakespeare Library. Sponsorships range from $2,500-$25,000.
The event is presented by the National Coalition for Technology in Education and Training, a group of leading education and industry organizations whose mission is to promote the role of technology in teaching and learning. Also of interest: MTV and ServiceNation "Be The Change" ball at the Ronald Reagan Building and International Trade Center and the Creative Coalition's party at the Harmon Center for the Arts (featuring Elvis Costello, Sting and a horde of celebrities).
NationalJournal.com's Under the Influence blog has posted an 11-page round-up of events that is likely circulating throughout the K Street community. Take a peek here. Heard of other tech-related inaugural events? Let us know!
Washingtonian magazine's Capital Comment blog reports that public relations firm Qorvis Communications and the law firm Patton Boggs have teamed up to launch a new iPhone application to assist those who will flock to D.C. for President-elect Barack Obama's inauguration. Free to download, the app is designed to help out-of-towners find their way around the city. Download the app here.
Some Features:
• Countdown to the inauguration
• Distance you are from the steps of the inauguration
• Metro service and locations
• Zagat Guide
• Parking garage locations
• Free Wi-Fi zones
More inauguration gadgetry? Send us a tip!
In keeping with President-elect Barack Obama's commitment to changing the way business is done in Washington, the Presidential Inaugural Committee is striving for transparency in the public reporting of donors to the Jan. 20 event. While the committee does not accept money from corporations, political action committees, labor unions and current federally registered lobbyists, it has posted a running list of all donors contributing over $200. Some names of potential interest to the tech and entertainment community:
▪ Lisa Henson, Jim Henson Company [$50,000]
▪ John Keane, CBS/Viacom [$50,000]
▪ Micheal Kiechnick, Working Assets [$50,000]
▪ Harold Snyder, Tera Pharmaceuticals [$50,000]
▪ Steven Van Roekel, Microsoft senior director [$50,000]
▪ John Vechey, Popcap Games co-founder [$50,000]
▪ Henry Laufer, Renaissance Technology [$25,000]
▪ Katherine Kendrick, Dreamworks [$25,000]
▪ Irwin Jacobs, Qualcomm [$25,000]
From David Herbert at NationalJournal.com's Lost In Transition blog:
If Barack Obama wants to prioritize e-government, he might look to the Commerce Department, which has quietly gained a reputation for being one of the most Web-savvy departments in the federal government. Commerce has long been viewed as a sprawling, almost ungovernable bureaucracy, but over the last few years it has seen significant advances in areas both small (online video) and large (the 2010 census).
"I think the Commerce Department has been aggressive and progressive," said Arnold Jackson, associate director for the 2010 census. Recently, Commerce Secretary Carlos Gutierrez pushed the Census Bureau to overcome technological barriers and offer an online form for the 2010 census, Jackson said. While the security software wasn't quite there to make the jump online in time for 2010, offering an Internet-based questionnaire is at "the very top of our agenda" for 2020, he added.
Commerce Secretary-designate Bill Richardson will oversee the 2010 census, and, depending on how long he serves, could be around when planning begins for the 2020 survey. Read the full post here.
Lawrence Berkeley National Laboratory Director Steven Chu -- President-elect Barack Obama's pick for Energy Secretary -- is a "champion of U.S. innovation" and "understands the critical role that technology and innovation play in creating a brighter energy future for America," Semiconductor Industry Association President George Scalise said in a Monday release. Obama announced his intention to nominate the Nobel-winning physicist the same day.
Chu, an alternative energy guru, is a leading advocate of increased public investments in science and technology to achieve long-term energy security, SIA said. The Energy Department funds more physical science and engineering research than any other federal agency. "Technology leadership is a prerequisite to solving America's energy challenges," Scalise said. "SIA supports a robust innovation policy agenda that will increase federal funding for basic research at U.S. universities and national laboratories coupled with an investment climate that rewards private-sector research."
During the presidential campaign, President-elect Barack Obama said he would appoint a federal chief technology officer "to ensure that our government and all its agencies have the right infrastructure, policies and services for the 21st century," according to a management reform plan he released in September. Just what skills does this CTO need to do this, which includes leading the historically change-averse bureaucracy to embrace new ways of doing business?
Nextgov's Allan Holmes sat down recently with Norm Lorentz, the first -- and only -- federal chief technology officer to find out. He was named CTO at the Office of Management and Budget in January 2002 and worked in that position until September 2003. While CTO, Lorentz worked on the Federal Enterprise Architecture, which provides a common model for buying information technology so agencies can share information.
Read the full Q&A here.
Surf on over to CongressDaily's TechCentral for a new "Issue of the Week." Here's a taste:
As Inauguration Day nears, the high-tech sector is submitting its wish lists to President-elect Barack Obama's transition team through letters, one-pagers, and face-to-face meetings. On the front burner is an array of technology-related government incentives that industry groups want included in the economic stimulus package that lawmakers plan to unveil early next year. Last week, the heads of the American Electronics Association and the Information Technology Association of America, which expect to close a merger deal by the end of 2008, wrote to Obama's advisers and members of Congress urging that technology be included in the stimulus bill. The action comes as telecommunications industry interests are campaigning for billions of federal dollars.
In their letter, AeA President Christopher Hansen and ITAA President Phil Bond said Congress should allow financial assets that U.S. companies have overseas to be repatriated at a reduced rate. "This would have positive economic effects for individual companies and their employees and investors, plus the U.S. economy as a whole," they wrote. They called for targeted accelerated depreciation for investment in IT and broadband Internet access as well as language that would speed the cost-effective deployment of fiber-optic broadband networks. Notice should be given to Internet service providers in a given market of any infrastructure projects so they could piggyback on road, bridge, railway and other transportation projects without having to dig up streets. The result would save taxpayers' money, they said.
Read the full story at CongressDaily's TechCentral (subscription required).
When President-elect Barack Obama takes office Jan. 20, the trailblazing, tech-savvy way his camp communicated with supporters and the public at large will change drastically due to federal regulations like the Presidential Records Act, which puts the commander-in-chief's correspondence in the official record. A former deputy assistant to President Bill Clinton said Friday that shift will be a major challenge for a politician who revolutionized Internet outreach and organizing.
"You have such immense freedom in a campaign -- in both speed and how you can move information -- that gets unbelievably throttled down the day you set foot in a government bureaucracy," said Jeff Eller, who is now president of Public Strategies. Although Clinton served during the Internet's early days, his advisers found their ability to be creative "took far longer to ramp up and scale up" due to long-standing technological and regulatory restrictions, Eller said at an open government discussion hosted by Google. He advised Obama to fight for openness when in office. Read the full story in CongressDaily here (subscription required).
President-elect Barack Obama's transition team is breaking new ground with outreach efforts on Change.gov, particularly with the "Your Seat at the Table" section, under which proceedings of meetings and documents shared between Obama's aides and outside groups are posted online and available for comment. But have these visionaries gotten a bit ahead of themselves? Is the screen grab posted above merely a typo -- or have they built a time machine to move even faster with their transition work?
From Friday's CongressDaily AM Edition:
Reducing the Patent and Trademark Office's growing backlog of applications should be one of the highest priorities for the agency in the Obama administration, several former high-level PTO officials agreed Thursday. An array of proposals for streamlining the office have been floated in legislation introduced in recent sessions of Congress and by intellectual property stakeholders, but Gerald Mossinghoff -- who ran the office under the late President Ronald Reagan -- believes none of them will be successful until the estimated 1.2 million applications are reduced.
The PTO has maintained there is a 700,000-application backlog, which does not include applications that are currently being examined. Mossinghoff, who serves as special counsel at Oblon Spivak, called the problem "horrendous" and criticized PTO Director Jon Dudas of setting annual "soft, stair-step goals" rather than projecting where the agency will stand in four and eight years. "They achieve their goals but don't cut into backlog," he said. Read the full story here (subscription required).
[Cross-posted from NationalJournal.com's Lost in Transition Blog]
Craig Newmark, the founder of classifieds giant craigslist, has some advice for President-elect Barack Obama as he searches for a chief technology officer: Find someone who can foster public-private sector partnerships and "crack the whip" to bring about necessary reforms in tech policy. "The government isn't ready in some respects to use these new technologies," Newmark said. "When it comes to computer technology, there are some really smart people who can do something in a month that it would take the government a year to do."
Pushing a national broadband strategy and overhauling the government's information technology infrastructure should be near the top of any tech czar's to-do list, Newmark argued. And, given the array of technological challenges facing the next administration, Newmark recommended the president-elect keep his campaign pledge to elevate the position to a Cabinet-level post. So would Newmark leave craigslist and San Francisco for the Beltway if Obama came calling? Not likely. "I have a job -- it's customer service -- and I'll be doing that for a long time," he said. "Washington is too humid. You can quote me on that." -- David Herbert
Michael Calabrese, vice president and director of the wireless future program at the New America Foundation, acknowledges that he may be one of the candidates being considered for a slot as FCC Commissioner in President-elect Barack Obama's administration. "I've heard I'm on a list of people being considered as an FCC commissioner, but I'm sure at this point it's quite a long list,” Calabrese said in response to an inquiry on the topic. Although he added that as far as he is aware there is no formal process yet underway for FCC appointments. Calabrese has previously served as director of domestic policy programs at the Center for National Policy, as general counsel of the Congressional Joint Economic Committee, and as pension and employee benefits counsel at the national AFL-CIO. Calabrese is a graduate of Stanford Business and Law Schools. -- Winter Casey
The Family Online Safety Institute, whose members include AT&T, Comcast Corp., Google, Microsoft, Verizon and other high-tech firms urged the Obama administration on Thursday ramp up government efforts to protect children on the Internet. The group proposes naming a national safety officer to serve under the yet-to-be-named national chief information officer within the White House; creating a U.S. Internet safety council; and establishing a federal program to fund a range of online safety research and education projects.
"We need a paradigm shift in what we do, say and teach about online safety," FOSI CEO Stephen Balkam said in a release issued in conjunction with the institute's second annual summit in Washington. "We look to the next administration to provide leadership and support at the highest levels to help make the online world a safer place for children," he said. MySpace Chief Security Officer Hemanshu Nigam, who keynoted the conference, said FOSI's call to action "is opportune with new leadership taking charge of the online safety for our nation’s children in a Web 2.0 world."
Read more about FOSI's recommendations here.
The Copyright Alliance's seven-member board of directors met with President-elect Barack Obama's transition team last week to discuss strategies for protecting intellectual property. The alliance is backed by NBC Universal, the Professional Photographers of America, Time Warner, Viacom and other stakeholders in the content community. David Trust, PPA's executive director, was among those at the meeting and said in a press release that he was pleased to have had the opportunity to "express to the new administration our thoughts and concerns about copyright and intellectual property issues."
During the Friday meeting, Trust argued that a major portion of the economy is under siege and that photographers are an important part of that economic mix. PPA's written materials also pointed out the vast network of professional photographers (over 122,000 nationwide) and the impact IP and its domestic and international enforcement play in their livelihoods. "I was most impressed with the genuine interest they displayed for our collective message," Trust said. "This was not just a courtesy meeting -- they listened intently and took pages of notes. It feels like we are doing real good for photography and all creators."
The yet-to-be-named chief technology officer for the federal government -- a position President-elect Barack Obama endorsed during his presidential campaign -- should be charged with developing a comprehensive IT plan that is "flexible, technology neutral, free of prescriptive mandates, aimed at addressing current and future needs, and that would be acceptable if embraced by other governments," Business Software Alliance President Robert Holleyman wrote in a letter to Obama's transition team.
Such a plan should address the information privacy and security needs of citizens by working closely with leaders in academia, research labs, industry and government at all levels, he stated in a letter being sent Wednesday. Holleyman, whose trade group represents Apple, Cisco Systems, Dell Computer, Microsoft, Symantec and other high-tech firms, also said the CTO should consult regularly with "the best and brightest minds" that can look for ways to harness the power of new technologies to improve government.
Obama, in his tech policy platform, said a federal CTO would be assigned “to ensure that our government and all its agencies have the right infrastructure, policies and services for the 21st century.” BSA believes the CTO could play a more valuable role by taking a longer-term approach to the nation’s IT need in areas such as health care, environmental protection, education, income inequality, connectivity, and public safety.
Increasing efforts to fight illegal movie theater videotaping as well as Internet and optical disc piracy are key points in a one-pager submitted to President-elect Barack Obama's transition team this week by the Motion Picture Association of America. The trade group, which represents major movie studios, offered the document as part of Change.gov's "Your Seat at the Table" feature, under which proceedings of meetings and documents shared between Obama's aides and outside groups are made available for public comment.
In its briefing document, the MPAA said:
▪ Illicit camcording remains the major source of pirated content and the group worked with the U.S. government to include anti-camcording language in new free trade agreements, including the Korean and Malaysian deals.
▪ Internet piracy is a top priority for MPAA and the group views recent efforts by the governments of France and the United Kingdom t protect online content and facilitate inter-industry cooperation as useful models.
▪ MPAA has identified Canada, China, India, Mexico, Russia and Spain as countries that should receive priority trade policy attention in 2009.
Over at NationalJournal.com's Lost In Transition blog, Amy Harder writes that the Travel Industry Association has launched a new transition Web site and released a series of briefings on major concerns the group believes Barack Obama should address. The briefings cover issues such as the controversial Visa waiver program, the Transportation Security Administration's screening process and federal highway reauthorization. Nine of TIA's 18 briefings address the Department of Homeland Security, with others devoted to State, Commerce, Transportation, Interior and the Environmental Protection Agency.
The site also offers a repository of information on what other groups, including think tanks and government agencies, have recently done related to travel policy. Geoff Freeman, the TIA's senior vice president of public affairs, hopes the site provides a service for the incoming administration. "Now's not the time when people want to be lobbied, bombarded with stuff they don't need," Freeman said. "The transition team is interested in being informed. These briefing papers and links to other reports take every issue and provide a holistic view." Freeman said his group has been in contact with various transition team members, and he stressed how closely travel is connected to the economy, U.S. image abroad and energy.
On Monday night, Georgetown University's Center for Business and Public Policy hosted a presentation by FCC Commissioner Deborah Taylor Tate, who will discuss "Communications Policy: Issues and Opportunities Facing the Next Administration." This was a swan song of sorts for Taylor Tate, a Republican whose term on the FCC formally expired last year -- and who must leave the commission prior to when the new Congress is sworn in.
On Tuesday, the Center for Democracy and Technology will release a set of transition documents aimed at helping the Obama administration craft a policy agenda across a range of areas -- including security, free speech, consumer privacy, health information technology, copyright protection, and Internet-related issues. The documents, already in the hands of Obama transition team members, are drawn from CDT's "Internet in Transition" project that was developed during the presidential election cycle.
On Thursday, four former officials of the Patent and Trademark Office will discuss that agency's policies and priorities in the Obama administration at a lunchtime forum hosted by the Computing Technology Industry Association. Speakers include Q. Todd Dickinson, Nicholas Godici, Bruce Lehman, and Gerald Mossinghoff.
The Center for Strategic and International Studies Commission on Cybersecurity for the 44th Presidency will unveil its long-awaited report on Monday on what the incoming administration should do to protect U.S. information networks from cyber attacks. Notably, the commission recommends that a new office in the White House should be responsible for the Comprehensive National Cybersecurity Initiative, as opposed to the Homeland Security Department. Key members of the panel briefed the House Homeland Security Emerging Threats Subcommittee at a September hearing. Read more in CongressDaily here.
James Lewis, who led the CSIS cybersecurity panel, told lawmakers the agency has lacked focus despite recent efforts to right the ship with its coordination of the multibillion-dollar cybersecurity directive signed by President Bush in January. "Only the White House has the authority" to effectively monitor and manage cyberstrategies across federal agencies, he said. Still, Lewis said after the hearing, "We're better off now than we were a year ago," regarding Homeland Security's handling of cybersecurity. Lewis said he initially wanted to preserve DHS control but commission colleagues, some of whom are former department officials, opposed the status quo.
President-elect Barack Obama on Saturday capped off his weekly address, which largely focused on upgrading roads, schools and energy efficiency, with a pledge to "renew our information superhighway." "It is unacceptable that the United States ranks 15th in the world in broadband adoption. Here, in the country that invented the Internet, every child should have the chance to get online, and they’ll get that chance when I’m president," he said in a speech that was posted on video-sharing site YouTube.
"In addition to connecting our libraries and schools to the Internet, we must also ensure that our hospitals are connected to each other through the Internet. That is why the economic recovery plan I’m proposing will help modernize our health care system – and that won’t just save jobs, it will save lives," Obama said. "We will make sure that every doctor’s office and hospital in this country is using cutting edge technology and electronic medical records so that we can cut red tape, prevent medical mistakes, and help save billions of dollars each year."
The massive public-works program and the broadband initiative are part of a larger economic recovery plan that Obama said he looked forward to rolling out in the coming weeks but gave no price estimate for the effort. "When Congress reconvenes in January, I look forward to working with them to pass a plan immediately," he said. "We need to act with the urgency this moment demands to save or create at least two and a half million jobs so that the nearly two million Americans who’ve lost them know that they have a future." Watch the entire address here.
Update: Technology blogs and commentators praise Obama's broadband plans -- click here.
With increased attention to Change.gov, President-elect Barack Obama's transition Web site, we wondered whether Change.org -- a self-described "social entrepreneurship venture" based in San Francisco -- might be benefiting from a surge in traffic either by users mistakenly trying to access the Obama team's site or out of idle curiosity about what content lives at the potentially lucrative domain.
Ben Rattray, CEO of the year-old site, confirmed our hunch via email. His grassroots effort aims to serve as a "central platform informing and empowering movements for social change around the most important issues of our time." While there, individuals can search for a million nonprofits by keyword or topic -- from animals and arts to health and human services. Change.org has a traffic rank of 60,542 from Web analytics firm Alexa. Change.gov has a ranking of 11,884.
According to Alexa's measurements, Change.org has seen a dramatic uptick in visitors recently. The percent of global Internet users who visit this site has increased 62 percent in the past three months (see chart after the jump). Obama's transition team launched Change.gov early last month. And even though Change.org is not affiliated with the new administration, the site has joined the chorus of those calling for Obama to tackle a host of issues. Its "Ideas for Change in America" project, unveiled last week, already has more than 2,000 recommendations from people in all 50 states.
Continue reading Change.org Gets Boost From Obama Transition Site.
Malcolm Wiley, a former Secret Service agent of 17 years and a current spokesman in the agency's public affairs department, recently spoke with NationalJournal.com about what law enforcement is doing to prepare for President-elect Barack Obama's historic inauguration. The following portion of the Q&A caught my eye:
NJ: What can you tell us about possible cyber threats to the inauguration?
Wiley: One of the subcommittees that we have is our critical infrastructure group. They're tasked with developing plans that monitor and safeguard all computer systems -- telecommunications systems, electrical systems and other utility services. Not only does that group work to prevent cyber threats, they're also poised to immediately respond to anything with a cyber nexus to the inauguration.
The thing is, in this computer age, all of those systems are cyber-based. So [if], someone, let's say, were to try to affect the electrical grid of the city, that could have effects as far-reaching as airport towers with the ability of the air traffic controllers to be able to communicate with planes in the air if the electrical system were tampered with. That would be an example. If our protectees were in the Capitol, and they were on an elevator, or they were moving about and the lights and the power went out, that could potentially affect us. Read the full interview here.
President-elect Barack Obama's transition team is breaking new ground with Change.gov and the online conversations that the site is trying to generate -- but his staff wants to make sure that participants in the discussion are making the most of the opportunity to communicate their views and play by the rules. After reading through thousands of comments posted on the site in recent weeks, officials offered some tips on Wednesday.
1: Know the comment policy -- do's and don'ts of posting
2: Set up an account -- it helps build a sense of community for discussions
3: Rate other comments -- easy to use thumbs up/thumbs down buttons
4: Post a comment -- say something new; respond to someone else
5: Stay on topic -- if it's a discussion on the economy, discuss the economy
Not surprisingly, Web users commented on the post. One wondered how the team plans on moderating the discussions on Change.gov, noting that as commenting grows, "it may go beyond the capabilities of paid staff." Another said that over time, the administration "will figure out how to properly run this discussion." That individual suggested setting up live chats with a transition official and a system where citizen boards are created from the online community.
President-elect Barack Obama’s initial round of cabinet nominees would bring significant changes to state and local government information technology, according to Chris Dixon, an analyst at consulting firm INPUT. Of particular interest to him are the nominees for secretary of Health and Human Services, Tom Daschle, and Homeland Security, Arizona Gov. Janet Napolitano. Dixon believes that Daschle’s views on healthcare reform include a government role for health IT that are similar to those of the Bush administration. Health IT was the #2 policy item of the Obama campaign’s healthcare platform, he pointed out.
Under Napolitano, Arizona has been a national leader on state and local intelligence fusion, Dixon said. Meanwhile, Obama pledged to establish a grant program to support "thousands more" state and local level intelligence analysts. INPUT officials are also monitoring the potential impact of nominees on federally-funded social services, particularly with regard to outsourcing of certain business processes. For more transition related commentary, visit INPUT's B2G Exchange blog here.
Washington, D.C. think tank veteran Scott Wallsten is working on President-elect Barack Obama’s transition team but not on technology or telecommunications policy issues -- his well known areas of expertise. Wallsten is on the agency review team examining the National Credit Union Administration, the Federal Financial Institutions Examination Council, and the Federal Accounting Standards Advisory Board. Wallsten’s past research has focused on telecom, regulation, competition, and technology policy and he is currently vice president for research and a senior fellow at the Technology Policy Institute. He is also a senior fellow at the Georgetown Center for Business and Public Policy, a lecturer in Public Policy at Stanford University, and a special consultant for Economists Incorporated. He holds a PhD in economics from Stanford University. He previously worked for the Progress & Freedom Foundation and was a senior fellow at the AEI-Brookings Joint Center for Regulatory Studies. -- Winter Casey
A coalition of high-tech stakeholders led by Stanford University law professor Lawrence Lessig, Web browser creator Mozilla, and the Participatory Culture Foundation are urging President-elect Barack Obama's transition team to follow a set of "open transition principles" as they deploy resources to the Internet. The group began discussing the principles last week, just before the Obama team changed the copyright terms on Change.gov from "All Rights Reserved" to a Creative Commons attribution license.
The group welcomed that change, which will allow others to freely share and remix what's posted there provided that reposts are attributed to Change.gov, but in a letter to transition officials suggest two other principles that would assure broader access to resources posted on the Web. (1) No technological barrier so citizens can download transition-related content in a way that makes it simple to share, excerpt, remix, or redistribute. (2) Transition-generated content should not be made publicly available in a way that unfairly benefits one commercial entity over another or commercial entities over noncommercial entities.
"We were all encouraged during the campaign by President-elect Obama’s commitment to open government -- ideals that helped inspire a generation to act. His transition team has now taken an important step to making this commitment real. That step deserves heartfelt praise" the group said. "We offer here these additional principles as a practical way to make tangible the values President-elect Obama has spoken of so powerfully. We believe these values should guide every aspect of his transition, and the new government as well."
Continue reading Web Stakeholders Push For 'Open Transition' Principles.
There are some interesting tech-related points to ponder (summarized below) in the Government Accountability Office's recently released "Confirmation of Political Appointees: Eliciting Nominees' Views on Management Challenges within Agencies and across the Government" -- a 149-page report for new political appointees facing Senate confirmation.
▪ Based on your experience, please explain the role technology should play in your agency to support mission needs. What measures would you implement to show the effect technology has in meeting these needs?
▪ How would you determine whether your agency has in place the key information management processes and tools required by law, including well-defined enterprise architecture, an investment control process, and computer security plans? What role do you envision you would play in managing or providing oversight over these processes and tools? How would you go about implementing or improving these processes and tools?
Continue reading GAO Poses High-Tech Confirmation Questions.
President-elect Barack Obama's transition team on Monday released a batch of donors to make good on his pledge to "run the most open and transparent transition in history." As of Nov. 15, $1.17 million had been raised from 1,776 donors, including some high-profile technology and media industry leaders. Donor lists will be released on a monthly basis.
Some names and donation amounts, large and small listed on change.gov:
▪ Eric Schmidt, Google CEO [$5,000]
▪ Vint Cerf, Google chief Internet evangelist [$2,500]
▪ David Fischer, Google vice president/global online sales [$3,000]
▪ Juliette Gimon, Google global economic development [$2,500]
▪ Edgar Bronfman, Warner Music Group CEO [$5,000]
▪ Andrew Lack, Sony Music Entertainment [$5,000]
▪ George Lucas, founder LucasFilm [$5,000]
▪ James Crowe, Level 3 Communications CEO [$5,000]
▪ Fred Eychaner, Newsweb Corp./WPWR-TV [$5,000]
▪ Majid Naderkhani, Excelacom systems integration [$5,000]
▪ Geoffrey Gowan, Google software engineer [$200]
▪ Spencer Kimball, Google computer programmer [$250]
▪ Tim Mansfield, Google software engineer [$250]
▪ Craig Nevill-Manning, Google engineering director [$500]
Surf on over to CongressDaily's TechCentral for a new "Issue of the Week." Here's a taste:
When President-elect Barack Obama's transition team recently named two respected academics with strong ties to a prominent advocacy group to review changes at the FCC, the announcement appeared designed to signal that the public-interest sector would play a larger role in shaping high-tech policy than under the Bush administration.
Susan Crawford and Kevin Werbach are professors at the University of Michigan Law School and the University of Pennsylvania's Wharton School, respectively, who have held mid-level posts at the FCC. Both sit on the advisory board of Public Knowledge, best known for advocating unfettered access to Internet content and less restrictive copyright laws. "We're not going to be a government that's run by corporate lobbyists -- that's the message," said Gigi Sohn, president and co-founder of the group.
But with a heavy roster of former top FCC officials and powerful communications executives working on the transition, some are skeptical that academics will choose the next agency chairman. "I find it hard to believe that they would be the persons making the selections," said one telecom industry source, who expects higher level advisers to call the shots.
A former chairman of the Council of Economic Advisers suggests that the Obama administration should replace aging federal workers with technology. “Replace some of the 42 percent of federal civilian employees who will retire in the next decade with technology,” holds Michael Boskin, a professor of economics at Stanford and a senior fellow at the Hoover Institution, at the end of a New York Times op-ed published Saturday.
Darrell West, vice president and director of governance studies at the Brookings Institute, told National Journal in response that “It certainly will be possible to use technology in the public sector to improve future productivity. The private sector has managed to decrease its labor force and maintain current service through digital technology. New technologies help people achieve more with less time, and that will save a lot of money.”
If better use of technology could enable the government to make due with fewer employees, it seems like the task would be something that would fall under the chief technology officer purview -- a position for which Obama has yet to offer a name. According to Obama’s technology plan, the CTO would “ensure that our government and all its agencies have the right infrastructure, policies and services for the 21st century” and work with “chief technology and chief information officers of each of the federal agencies, to ensure that they use best-in-class technologies and share best practices.” -- Winter Casey
As Tech Daily Dose previously reported, President-elect Barack Obama's technology, innovation and government reform working group within his transition team is being led by Sonal Shah, Julius Genachowski, and Blair Levin. Here's a full list of those serving on the working group, which is organized into four sub-teams: (1) Innovation and Government, (2) Innovation and National Priorities, (3) Innovation and Science, and (4) Innovation and Civil Society.
▪ Howard Buffet ▪ David Burd ▪ Dan Chenok ▪ Aneesh Chopra
▪ Jack Chorowsky ▪ Cheryl Dorsey ▪ Joshua Dubois ▪ Judy Estrin
▪ Tom Freedman ▪ Jim Halpert ▪ Mark Johnson ▪ Michele Jolin
▪ Tom Kalil ▪ Kei Koizumi ▪ Vivek Kundra ▪ Don Lamb
▪ John Leibovitz ▪ Bruce McConnell ▪ Andrew McLaughlin
▪ Parry Norling ▪ Beth Noveck ▪ Spencer Overton ▪ Lori Perine
▪ Kartik Raghavan ▪ Alec Ross ▪ Paul Schmitz ▪ Clifford Sloan
▪ Steve Spinner ▪ Marta Urquilla ▪ Chris Warren ▪ Daniel Weitzner
▪ Irving Wladawsky-Berger
Continue reading Who's Who On Obama's Tech & Innovation Team.
One intellectual property expert whose name had been floated recently as a potential contender for Patent and Trademark Office director in the Obama administration says he is "delighted to be an observer" of the presidential transition process and "has not expressed an interest [in the PTO job] or taken any steps to advance that idea." In a Tuesday interview, Eli Lilly general counsel Robert Armitage said "it's always nice to be thought of, but… there are a number of people who have an interest and apparently are pursuing that interest."
CongressDaily recently reported that Armitage's name was being circulated among industry insiders as well as the names of Q. Todd Dickinson, who ran the PTO under former President Clinton; 3M IP counsel Gary Griswold; patent attorneys Ray Millien and James Pooley; and law professors Mark Lemley of Stanford and Arti Rai of Duke, a Harvard classmate of Obama's. "My hope is that the Obama administration will do what I've seen it do thus far -- get highly qualified, highly skilled people who can bring together diverse groups and get consensus," Armitage said.
Excerpt from President-elect Barack Obama's weekly YouTube address:
"I have already directed my economic team to come up with an Economic Recovery Plan that will mean 2.5 million more jobs by January of 2011 – a plan big enough to meet the challenges we face that I intend to sign soon after taking office... We’ll put people back to work... building wind farms and solar panels; fuel-efficient cars and the alternative energy technologies that can free us from our dependence on foreign oil and keep our economy competitive in the years ahead."
Tech-savvy Republican consultant David All wants the GOP to "start calling out" the mistakes President-elect Barack Obama has made on his Change.gov transition Web site "so that we stop ceding ground to him and his liberal agenda." In an e-mail, All calls for "fewer Web sites touting why we're Republican and more Web sites actually working to impact change... A modern war room response apparatus tasked with conservative content spiders working hard to do just that."
A couple of the Obama team's alleged slip-ups, according to All: Change.gov was launched with a robust policy agenda and it was then removed. Also, the transition team released six YouTube videos which have already received over 1.5 million views. User comments, ratings, video responses have been disabled. Read more on TechRepublican.com.
President-elect Barack Obama's administration should craft sound policies on government use of data -- especially in the national security context, cybersecurity expert Fred Cate told reporters at a Friday briefing sponsored by Hunton & Williams' Centre for Information Policy Leadership. "Nobody has said the current state of law is good -- even people who are advocates for less privacy protection in this area want clearer laws," said Cate, who is also director of Indiana University's Center for Applied Cybersecurity Research. Joining Cate were CIPL principals Marty Abrams, Paula Bruening, Lisa Sotto and Orson Swindle as well as Harriet Pearson, IBM's chief privacy officer.
Nearly all the components of Obama's ambitious "change agenda," which includes reforms to the financial services sector, healthcare system and the economy, relate to the collection, use and processing of information, Abrams said. Privacy and information security are "at the top of the heap" and will be part of the regulatory, policy and legislative agenda going forward, he said. Days before the election, the center took the pulse of its members -- 41 companies from the financial services, retail, tech, and pharmaceutical industries -- about possible government privacy policy activities.
Here's what they had to say:
▪ 90.9 percent predicted an Obama administration would reexamine issues of privacy and information security; 51.5 percent believed a McCain presidency would do the same.
▪ 72.7 percent expected Congress to enact major privacy legislation.
▪ 65.6 percent thought Congress would legislate in the area of data breach; 59.4 believed members would act on behavioral advertising; and 50 percent thought Congress would propose minimum requirements for security.
▪ 64.5 percent believed the U.S. approach to protecting personal information is ineffective at promoting consumer trust.
▪ 63.3 percent believed "better enforcement and oversight of existing laws and regulations" is needed to enhance security of personal information.
From CongressDaily...
A communications industry lobbyist who has represented some of the nation's most powerful cable, Internet and telecommunications firms is drawing scrutiny for his role on President-elect Barack Obama's transition team. James Halpert, an attorney and registered lobbyist with DLA Piper, is advising on matters involving the Patent and Trademark Office and intellectual property, according to many sources in the technology sector who are familiar with Obama's transition operations.
Critics are crying foul because they insist Halpert lobbied these issues just a few months ago, in violation of Obama's strict ethics guidelines, which state that parties joining the transition effort are prohibited from working in areas in which they focused as registered lobbyists in the last 12 months. "When we saw his name pop up as the transition guy for IP, I mean, everybody nearly had a heart attack," an industry source said.
Read the full story here.
President-elect Barack Obama's technology, innovation and government reform working group within his transition team has been announced. Members include Sonal Shah, Julius Genachowski, and Blair Levin. Shah, who heads the Google foundation's global development efforts, previously served as vice president at Goldman Sachs where she developed the firm’s environmental policy. Genachowski, a longtime friend of Obama's, is cofounder of Rock Creek Ventures and a former senior executive at IAC/InterActiveCorp. Levin is a managing director of Stifel Nicolaus and serves as the firm’s principal telecom, media and tech regulatory and strategy analyst. He previously served as chief of staff to FCC Chairman Reed Hundt in the Clinton administration.
Meanwhile, my colleague Bara Vaida reports on Obama's congressional affairs team roster on NationalJournal.com's Lost In Transition blog. The congressional aides chosen by Obama and his transition directors to plot strategy before Jan. 20 are names to know on K Street -- and elsewhere around Washington, she writes.
Former "campaign bundlers" for President-elect Barack Obama , including some who raised over a half-million dollars during his campaign for the White House, are now serving on the transition team and Public Citizen's Becoming 44 blog has posted a chart detailing exactly which bundlers have been tapped for the transition.
Some names familiar to the tech industry include:
▪ Julius Genachowski (Rock Creek Ventures) $500,000+
▪ Donald Gips (Level 3 Communications): $500,000+
▪ Tom Wheeler (former CTIA CEO): $200,000+
▪ Reed Hundt (former FCC Chairman): $50,000+
(Hat tip, Lost In Transition blog)
Rumors are swirling in the intellectual property policy community about who might be in the running for Patent and Trademark Office director under President Barack Obama. CongressDaily took the pulse of some IP watchers and included a list of potential contenders in Monday's PM edition.
Some of the names circulating include: Q. Todd Dickinson, who ran the PTO under former President Bill Clinton and is now head of the American IP Law Association; Eli Lilly general counsel Robert Armitage; 3M IP counsel Gary Griswold; patent attorneys Ray Millien and James Pooley; and law professors Mark Lemley of Stanford and Arti Rai of Duke, a classmate of Obama's at Harvard Law School. Some possible picks were on the front lines of the congressional patent reform battle this year, which could be a disadvantage, sources said.
One name that was not included in the story but has been mentioned by some stakeholders is Shanna Winters. Winters, whose name was also reportedly in the mix for White House IP enforcement coordinator, is chief counsel to Rep. Howard Berman, D-Calif., who chairs the House Judiciary Courts, the Internet and IP Subcommittee. Berman plans to leave that post in the 111th Congress to chair the House Foreign Affairs Committee and reliable sources report that she plans to follow her boss to the new panel.
Meanwhile, an industry insider said that despite the names being whispered in Washington, the PTO director job is a "wild card." "Half the names you're hearing are because of self-promotion and the other half are logical," the source said, adding that the person who assumes the role must be a "well rounded candidate who has leadership and management experience" to lead an agency of 9,500 employees.
Cross-posted from NationalJournal.com's Lost In Transition blog:
Adhering to its reputation as the first digital campaign, President-elect Barack Obama's team took to the Web for another innovation this weekend -- the first presidential YouTube address. Obama recorded a video version of the weekly Democratic radio address that was posted on the popular Internet video site Saturday, a trend his advisers say will continue once he enters the White House in January. "This is just one of many ways that President-elect Obama will communicate directly with the American people and make the White House and the political process more transparent," a press release said.
On the day that leaders of the Group of 20 nations convened in Washington for a summit on the global economic crisis, Obama used his video to discuss the economic situation here at home. "Make no mistake: This is the greatest economic challenge of our times," the president-elect told viewers and listeners. But he also expressed confidence that the country can recover. "I know that we can steer ourselves out of this crisis -- because here in America we always rise to the moment, no matter how hard. And I am more hopeful than ever that America will rise once again."
President-elect Barack Obama's transition team Wednesday announced 19 people to help oversee the effort. Several are some familiar names from the tech and telecom arena.
▪ Don Gips, former chief domestic policy adviser to Al Gore during his vice presidency and former FCC international bureau chief.
▪ Reed Hundt, former FCC chairman 1993-1997, is responsible for the international trade and economics agencies.
▪ Tom Wheeler, former CEO for the National Cable Television Association and the Cellular Telecommunications and Internet Association, is responsible for the science, technology, space and arts agencies.
▪ Louisa Terrell, Yahoo's recently hired DC policy shop senior director, was formerly deputy chief of staff for Vice President-elect Joseph Biden.
▪ Jon Wilkins, former FCC staffer; partner at McKinsey & Company
Academics, industry executives, congressional aides and high-profile attorneys are among those whose names are swirling as potential candidates for the high-level White House job to oversee government-wide anti-piracy and anti-counterfeiting efforts in Barack Obama's administration. The position was written into a broader intellectual property bill sponsored by Senate Judiciary Chairman Patrick Leahy and ranking member Arlen Specter along with Sens. Evan Bayh, D-Ind., and George Voinovich, R-Ohio. President Bush signed the legislation last month.
Leahy will offer a list of names to Obama's transition team, but the post is viewed as "second-tier" -- one that will be addressed after Cabinet and other major nominations are made. Leahy's picks will be "pretty weighty," one source said, noting that he was one of several senators to endorse Obama over Sen. Hillary Rodham Clinton, D-N.Y., early in the Democratic primaries. Victoria Espinel, a Democrat who served as the first assistant trade representative for intellectual property, a position created by Trade Representative Susan Schwab in 2006, is a likely contender. Read CongressDaily for details on other names that have been floated...
Surf on over to CongressDaily's TechCentral for a new "Issue of the Week." Here's a taste:
High-tech, telecommunications and media companies can expect increased antitrust scrutiny in President-elect Barack Obama's administration after eight years of what some believe has been a hands-off approach to marketplace competition within the Justice Department, the FCC and to some extent the FTC. The Democratic Illinois senator made ensuring competitive markets part of his campaign platform, which stated the United States needs "a business and regulatory landscape in which entrepreneurs and small businesses can thrive, start-ups can launch, and all enterprises can compete effectively while investors and consumers are protected against bad actors that cross the line."
Obama pledged to step up review of mergers and stop or restructure mergers that are likely to harm consumers while clearing those that do not pose such risks. According to a campaign position paper, Obama will strengthen antitrust authorities' competition advocacy programs to make certain that special interests do not use regulation to insulate themselves from the competitive process. He pledged to boost competition advocacy domestically and internationally and take steps to ensure that antitrust law is not used to interfere with competition or undermine efficiency to the detriment of U.S. consumers and businesses. Obama has said he will improve the administration of those laws in the United States and work with foreign counterparts to change their unsound laws and avoid needless duplication in enforcement.
The Sunshine in Government Initiative, a transparency watchdog whose members include the American Society of Newspaper Editors, the Associated Press, National Association of Broadcasters, Radio-Television News Directors Association and other media groups urged President-elect Barack Obama's administration Monday to take four steps "to counteract years of growing government secrecy in a climate in Washington increasingly hostile to the people’s right to know."
1. Restore the presumption of disclosure across the executive branch. Federal agencies should exercise their discretion to withhold information under the Freedom of Information Act only when a foreseeable harm would result from disclosure.
2. Create an independent, online ombudsman to help citizens access their government. The Obama administration should quickly ramp up the Office of Government Information Services at the National Archives and Records Administration to mediate disclosure disputes.
3. Ban agencies from proposing or endorsing unnecessary statutory exemptions from disclosure. Any new laws proposed or supported by the administration to specifically exempt certain information from disclosure should be limited in scope and life and include oversight.
4. Speak on the record, and urge his senior deputies and aides to do the same, in all statements about policy and news about public matters.
Hip-hop star Will.i.am, who made headlines during the campaign season for his "Yes We Can" YouTube video in support of Barack Obama, debuted his latest ditty dedicated to the president-elect on Oprah Winfrey's Friday TV show. As of Monday morning, "It's A New Day," had been viewed 134,580 times on YouTube and is available on DipDive.com. Watch the video for the foot-tapping tune above.
President-elect Barack Obama, who demonstrated through the success of his campaign's Internet outreach effort that he sees value in technology, may replace the White House's traditional Saturday radio address with a weekly speech on the popular video-sharing Web site YouTube, New Democrat Network founder Simon Rosenberg predicted Thursday. Rosenberg, who spoke at a Computer and Communications Industry Association reception, said he envisions the talk being translated in near real-time to Arabic, Mandarin, Spanish and other languages and available to a global audience. In short, Obama will do for the Internet what President Roosevelt did for radio, he said.
During the campaign, Obama perfected the Web-based tools that 2004 Democratic presidential candidate Howard Dean pioneered and as a result has "fundamentally changed the game" by allowing average people to get involved in the political process, Rosenberg said. "We can see it play out in politics and in democracies around the world," he said. "I think that’s a permanent condition of global politics, not just American politics." Rosenberg cited hip-hop star Will.i.am's "Yes We Can" YouTube video as proof. The pro-Obama clip has been viewed 12 million times. That kind of Web outreach was not possible during the last presidential election, he said.
With Obama in the White House, "we're going to see something more radical and innovative than what they did on the campaign because more people are going to be paying attention now," he said, noting that Obama's ability to use whitehouse.gov to ask Americans to "help him solve the problems of our day" could be revolutionary. Rosenberg said technology will be "central to the way he tries to govern" because innovative platforms are "now so engrained in their brand." The progressive pundit said he expects to see "massive experimentation" with Web efforts to get public input and also rally netroots to push the administration's agenda on Capitol Hill.
In an effort to thwart potential Internet scams, the Joint Congressional Committee on Inaugural Ceremonies issued a warning on Thursday that tickets to President-elect Barack Obama's swearing-in will be provided free of charge and distributed through members of the 111th Congress and not through any other Web site or ticket outlet. “Any Web site or ticket broker claiming that they have inaugural tickets is simply not telling the truth,” said Howard Gantman, staff director for the inaugural committee.
"We urge the public to view any offers of tickets for sale with great skepticism,” Gantman said in a statement. Tickets for the Jan. 20, 2009 event will not be distributed to congressional offices until the week before the inauguration and will require in‐person pick‐up. About 250,000 people are expected to be seated and standing between the U.S. Capitol and 3rd Street plus hundreds of thousands more will pack the National Mall and line the parade route. Ticketing resource StubHub.com shows vendors have already listed tickets to the swearing-in for as much as $3,715.
The Web site for President-elect Barack Obama's transition project, aimed at ensuring a smooth passing of the torch from the Bush administration, is officially up and running at Change.gov but job-seekers might have trouble applying to work in the new White House -- at least until the IT department flips the switch on some back-up servers. Access to the site's "Apply for a Job" section was spotty throughout the day Thursday.
Some applicants saw a scaled-down, text only version of the page while others saw this message:
The Government Accountability Office unveiled a new Web site on Thursday designed to help make the presidential transition a smooth one across the federal government. The site focuses on 13 urgent issues that the watchdog agency believes needs the attention of President-Elect Barack Obama and the 111th Congress. The topics include:
• Caring for Service Members • Defense Readiness • Defense Spending • Food Safety • Iraq, Afghanistan, Pakistan • Oversight of Financial Institutions and Markets • Preparing for Large-Scale Health Emergencies • Protecting the Homeland • Public Diplomacy and International Broadcasting • Retirement of the Space Shuttle • Surface Transportation • The 2010 Census • Transition to Digital TV
Sens. Daniel Akaka, D-Hawaii, and George Voinovich, R-Ohio, who head the Senate Homeland Security and Governmental Affairs Committee's Subcommittee on Oversight of Government Management, the Federal Workforce, and the District of Columbia, commended the GAO for the site's launch. Akaka said he hoped the resource "will encourage all congressional oversight committees to pay more attention to agency management." Voinovich said he hoped in the 11 weeks until Inauguration Day, Obama and his advisers will work with Congress to create a strategic plan to confront the issues flagged on the site.
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