Thoughts on the Obama Tech Policy Platform

There has been lots of reaction to the Barack Obama "innovation agenda" that announced to coincide with the presidential candidate's visit to the Google campus yesterday (video above). (Here are some: VentureBeat, TechCrunch, a TechPresident review of opinions, Wired, and, of course, Google's Policy Blog.)

Not surprisingly, most of the commentary focused on Obama's net neutrality position and his call for an administration CTO that oversees a massive push for government transparency. But, there is plenty of other stuff in the position paper to chew on. Some of it is smart. Some of it deserves second thoughts and redrafting.

Namely:

Obama says: On the Internet, Obama will require that parents have the option of receiving parental controls software that not only blocks objectionable Internet content but also prevents children from revealing personal
information through their home computer.

I say: Hmmmm. Who is paying for this software? This sounds somewhat like the Australian proposal that mandates that all Australians have free access to Internet filters. Somehow I didn't see John Howard and Barack Obama seeing eye to eye like this. And, on the second point, what type of "revealing information" won't be allowed? Information necessary to create a social networking page? Very vague and a potential slippery slope here.

Obama says: "(Let's make) government data available online in universally accessible formats to allow citizens to make use of that data to comment, derive value, and take action in their own communities."

I say: Wow. What was that groaning sound that I just heard come from Redmond? Sun Microsystems, IBM. Google, Red Hat, librarians, academics, etc, etc, have been fighting Microsoft's dominating installed base of their proprietary formats in governments that amounts to a taxpayer funded software tax every time the 800-pound gorilla exacts licensing revenue from governments. The trouble is that governments see the barrier of exiting the Microsoft world too steep and the cycle of the software tax continues. But, Obama hit on something significant (however subtly) when he called for "universally accessible formats" like open document format (ODF) to give citizens access to their government data. This is important because if a proprietary format fades away, you won't be able to access documents on it. Data on ODF will last forever.

Obama says: Barack Obama will invest $10 billion a year over the next five years to move the U.S. health care system to broad adoption of standards-based electronic health information systems, including electronic health records. He will also phase in requirements for full implementation of health IT and commit the necessary federal resources to make it happen.

I say: Amen. This is a big deal, and just hope that this isn't only mentioned in front of geeky audiences. I hope it plays a major role in big debates on health care. The Bush Administration has said as much. So has many leaders in Congress. But, the political will hasn't extended far enough beyond platitudes to get enough done on an issue that could be saving lives today.

Obama says: Protect Intellectual Property at Home: Intellectual property is to the digital age what physical goods were to the industrial age. Barack Obama believes we need to update and reform our copyright and patent systems to promote civic discourse, innovation and investment while ensuring that intellectual property owners are fairly treated.

I say: Hello wishy. Meet washy. For a guy with Larry Lessig's endorsement, I would hope for deeper thought here.

Obama says: Obama will appoint the nation’s first Chief Technology Officer (CTO) to ensure that our government and all its agencies have the right infrastructure, policies and services for the 21st century. The CTO will ensure the safety of our networks and will lead an interagency effort, working 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.

I say: A month or so ago the question of whether the next president should have a CTO came up in a work conversation among a diverse group of tech policy folks. We all agreed that the title is nice, but you would need to establish and delineate real power for it. Of course, the best way to do this would be to create a cabinet position for technology and innovation. People rolled their eyes at this until it was reminded to them that we do have a Secretary of Agriculture. What industry is more important to the next 100 years of the United States?

Overall, the complete position paper is impressive and is clearly full of thought from people well experienced in tech policy. Hilary Clinton's innovation agenda is well-considered, too. However it reads much like many innovation agendas that have preceded it by smart people on both sides of the aisle. I can't agree with everything in the Obama piece, but have to give credit to the creativity and desire to drive at new ideas.