The 463: Inside Tech

The National CTO is Coming to Town!

I recently called the hype around the prospective National CTO the geek equivalent of the future White House puppy, but Jim Harper might have me beat by calling the concept of him/her Santa Claus.

It's what you get when you have very enthusiastic techies assuming that someone with a "Chief" in front of their name can wave a wand (or make reindeer fly) to solve all our tech policy related issues.

Harper says he is skeptical of the policy suggestions for the CTO on the site ObamaCTO.org. He notes the top suggestion and then comments below...

Ensure the Internet is Widely Accessible & Network Neutral.

The Internet is one of the most valuable technical resources in America. In order to continue the amazing growth and utility of the Internet, the CTO’s policies should:

Improve accessibility in remote and depressed areas.

Maintain a carrier and content neutral network.

Foster a competitive and entrepreneurial business environment.

I’ve got some news or you: These are policy proposals that would be beyond the purview of any CTO. Policy proposals go through Congress and the President, advised by his policy staff. They do not go through a CTO.

If the Baltimore Ravens asked the team physician to kick field goals, the results would be about what you’d get from asking a federal CTO to carry out these policies.

Harper concludes:

Don’t expect too much from a government Chief Technology Officer. A federal CTO would run the government’s technology portfolio just a little bit better than a cork runs the ocean. Anyone who thinks a CTO would bring dramatic change is fooling him- or herself....

So please. Doff your rose-colored glasses, people! Understand what a CTO could and couldn’t do, and consider more carefully what you really want from a CTO and your government. Wish-lists are for Santa Claus.

(photo by Somerslea)

Who's Who in Tech Policy?

Hell, I don't know anymore.

With all these whippersnappers and their Twitters and a President-elect who actually knows his way around the Web, the times are a changing. Quickly. And, it's a good as a time as ever to take stock on who is and is going to make the most difference in our strange little niche that may not be so niche much longer.

Let Ars Technica and the folks at Tech Policy Central know who you thinks deserves recognition. Ars writes:

We want to find pioneering, influential individuals from industry, government, academia, and the nonprofit community. Results will be revealed in a special pre-inauguration feature on Ars Technica that will help us all better get to know the movers, shakers, and breakers likely to impact tech policy over the first few years of a new Obama administration.

Finalists won't be chosen simply on the basis of popularity or notoriety but will be judged by the ambition of their goals, the strength of their ideas, and the likelihood that they will, in fact, make a difference.

And, here is the place for the nominations at Tech Policy Central.

Yahoo! Gets Some Transitional Love

All the Internets have been aTwitter about which Googler is going that what role in an Obama administration. But, it was announced that a respected Yahoo! staffer joined the transition team team today. Louisa Terrell, Yahoo!'s new(ish) Senior Director of their DC public policy office, is taking leave to be a Working Group member of the Obama-Biden Transition Project's Agency Review Team.

Her connection?

It's a pretty good one.

As The Post notes, prior to joining Yahoo! Terrell was Deputy Chief of Staff for a certain Senator Biden. Previously, she was counsel for Senator Biden on his Senate Judiciary Committee staff where she handled criminal sentencing, juvenile justice, child protection, immigration policy and women's issues.

Sarah Lai Stirland notes other tech policy connections on the new batch of transition team members and explains what the Agency Review Team will do:

The job of agency review teams will be to "complete a thorough review of key departments, agencies and commissions of the United States government, as well as the White House, to provide the President-elect, Vice President-elect, and key advisors with information needed to make strategic policy, budgetary, and personnel decisions prior to the inauguration," according to a memo released to reporters from the transition team Wednesday afternoon.

By the time senior appointees to the various government positions reach their confirmation hearings, they should have been prepared by these team members so that they're ready to lead their respective departments and implement policy initiatives right away.

Subcommittee on Courts, the Internet, and Intellectual Property (RIP)

Andrew Noyes has the worldwide exclusive:

House Judiciary Committee Chairman John Conyers will abolish the Subcommittee on Courts, the Internet, and Intellectual Property in the new Congress and instead keep intellectual property issues at the full committee level, a Judiciary aide told CongressDaily today.

Under the watch of Howard Berman, the subcommittee was a fertile ground for IP debates. Noyes notes in Tech Daily Dose (and Congress Daily) piece:

Hot topics like overhauling the U.S. patent system; ending a long-standing music royalty exemption for AM and FM radio and changing a portion of copyright law that deals with musical tracks, writings, images, videos or other content whose owners cannot be easily identified drew ample attention from the high-tech and entertainment industries.

Yet, according to a Conyers' staffer:

Conyers plans to remain just as active on IP issues at the full committee level

With everything that the Judiciary Committee has on its plate, this seems hard to believe. And, conversely, if they actually are able to process as much IP related debate, it's likely that the process will lack the depth and substance of a committee that solely focuses on these ever-evolving complex issues.

BTW, while his ties may not be as strong and reflexive as Berman's, Conyers is considered "a friend" of Hollywood.

FCC Speculation

Not too many new names since the speculation on who might get appointed to a FCC under new administration started last March. But, speculation is fun and the FCC is unquestionably going to be a massively important body as convergence becomes quite real.

Olga Kharif of Businessweek writes about who is driving the process for the transition team and providing advice:

Heading up the selection process is Henry Rivera, partner at Washington law firm Wiley Rein. Headed by former FCC Chairman Richard Wiley, Wiley Rein has represented such companies as AT&T, Verizon Communications (VZ), Viacom (VIA), Motorola (MOT), and Sirius Satellite Radio (SIRI).

Rivera was the first Hispanic FCC commissioner, serving from 1981 to 1985, and is considered an advocate for local telcos, wireless companies, and cable TV providers. "Henry is a wise man, a bipartisan with lots of experience," says John Muleta, former head of the FCC's Wireless Telecommunications Bureau and now CEO of M2Z, an emerging wireless broadband provider...

...Obama's team is also weighing recommendations from former FCC Chairmen Bill Kennard and Reed Hundt, both of whom advised the Obama campaign on telecommunications-related issues.

Kharif also hits on the possible appointees who are being bandied about:

• Julia Johnson, a Florida consultant who chairs Video Access Alliance, an advocacy and advisory group for independent, emerging, and minority networks and Internet content providers.
• Mignon Clyburn, who has been a commissioner for the Public Service Commission of South Carolina since 1998.
• Blair Levin, who was Hundt's chief of staff from 1993 to 1997. Currently, Levin is managing director at brokerage and investment bank Stifel Nicolaus.
• Scott Blake Harris, who served as the first chief of the FCC's International Bureau, from 1994 to 1996, and was responsible for international and satellite communications policy and licensing. Currently, he is managing partner of influential law firm Harris, Wiltshire & Grannis
• Don Gips, who succeeded Harris as chief of the FCC's international bureau and spearheaded the drive to cut the prices of international calls. (He) is currently group vice-president for corporate strategy and development at fiber-optic network operator Level 3, where he's worked since 1998.
• Larry Strickling, who served as chief of the (FCC) division that regulates local and long-distance carriers before he resigned in 2000 to work for the policy think tank Aspen Institute.... Strickling helped pull together the campaign's Innovation & Technology Plan, which drew support from such companies as Google...
• Julius Genachowski, who used to be an executive at IAC/InterActive (IACI) (and is currently a managing director of venture capital firm Rock Creek Ventures and a special adviser to buyout firm General Atlantic.) He is a close Obama adviser and is on the transition advisory board

The Deal also ran a speculative story and only had one additional name to add to the mix: Former Senate Majority Leader Tom Daschle.

Skype, for one, thinks Blair Levin would be a good choice. Skype's senior director of government and regulatory affairs for North America Christopher Libertelli said last week that: "Levin would make an excellent FCC chairman."

Silicon Valley's First Puppy: The National CTO

President-Elect Obama's first few days after his historic victory saw him and his team dive into appointing a chief of staff; vetting potential cabinet officers; holding a press conference; discussing the recession; and, facing various challenges by foreign regimes.

It also saw a new national obsession about what type of puppy the Obama's might bring to the White House. From Entertainment Tonight to Politico, you couldn't escape discussion about Malia's dog allergies.

Okay. Fine. A little levity and humanizing is a good thing after a grueling 20-month campaign.

But. I just can't handle the geek world's equivalent of the First Puppy story: The who-is-going-to-be-Obama's-national-CTO?! -(OMG!!!) story.

You would think that Obama was proposing that he was going to name the Ultimate King Tech Policy Ruler of the World. Internetnews gasps:

One highly touted area of President-elect Barack Obama's platform has been his pledge to appoint a chief technology officer for the nation -- a move that may have dramatic implications for driving sweeping changes in tech policy and the country's economy.

And, as of this moment, there are more than 200 stories about this position on Google News.

Much of the hype around the proposed job was the simplistic speculation that Google CEO Eric Schmidt might take the job. After all, he very visibly threw his support toward Obama in the final weeks of the campaign and is on the transition's economic advisory board. He must have been angling for this lofty job seemed to be the conventional wisdom. Yet, the other day, Schmidt said he shouldn't be considered for the gig because of his happiness at Google.

That could very well be true. But, let me give you another reason he's not going to do it. Here is what we know about the proposed job from Obama's transition Web site:*

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.

No doubt that this is an important job. But, just by looking at this description, it is also a relatively boring (compared to being CEO) and potentially bureaucratic position without cabinet-level authority. [UPDATE: I have gone back and looked at articles about the CTO since Obama first announced his tech policy plan last year and many, many of the pieces refer to it as "cabinet-level" (like a the National Security Advisor). However, I can't find any official verification of this --which would change the dynamics of the job to say the least. Am I missing something? ]

Just when I thought I was going crazy about the coverage of the CTO, Dan Farber (very politely) brought some proper measuredness into the discussion:

Based on the job description, it could be difficult to find a worthy candidate from the private sector willing to take on a task of such enormous scope in an environment known to chew up and spit out White House policy czars...The Obama administration's CTO job could be one of those bureaucratic positions that ends up consumed by turf wars rather than making real progress against initiatives.

Is all this excitement over someone who is going to work with the Department of Agriculture to make sure that their server procurement policies are best of breed? If so, go geeks. I have no right to dampen that enthusiasm.

But, if it's because there is a misunderstanding of what a National CTO might do and, more importantly, what they will not do, than we we all need to simmer down a bit.

Of course, this doesn't preclude that the job position for the CTO will change. All we are working on is the mentioned job description.

This is why John Doerr suggested Bill Joy as his pick for CTO. He did this both as a way to savvily surf the wave of attention to the position and to make the case for a tweaking of the job to have an express focus on clean technology. Worst case scenario is that he plainly stated his interests for this new administration while attention is rapt.

Still, there is so much else to focus on in President-elect Obama's well-considered technology agenda. And, just as importantly, appointment speculation energy from the tech world might be better spent on ensuring that an innovation-savvy, say, Commerce Secretary was appointed. How about future FCC commissioners? All will be incredibly critical to the issues that we chatter about here. And, btw, so will be the Energy Secretary, head of Health and Human Services, and, yes, even the Secretary of Agriculture (and so on). If the cabinet secretaries are tech savvy and see innovation as a leading way to help solve the issues that their departments are charged with, then both the tech world and average Americans will benefit. And, the new national CTO will have a heckuva easier time in creating cross-agency best practices.

So, who should be the national CTO? I have no idea. But, considering that the role sounds like the Mother of all Integration jobs, why not hire a successful CTO of a massive conglomerate with the experience of bridging dozens of autonomous divisions? Or, how about the well-regarded former CTO and current CIO of FedEx? (speaking of which, should this be a CIO job or a CTO gig? -- but I digress....)

*Note: When this was written, the technology agenda on the Obama transition site was "not available right now." However, I could find it via Google cache.

(Flickr photo by Dunechaser)

Three White Houses (personal note)

On the evening of September 10, 2001 an old friend from who worked in the White House gave me a personal tour of the West Wing and around the grounds. As a liberal to moderate Republican (we did exist), I was still holding out hope for Bush's brand of compassionate conservatism. And, in town for a TechNet meeting with politicos, I was hopeful for forward movement on many of the tech policy issues advanced by Bush in his campaign that had essentially created a tie in SV smart money and support between him and Gore.

Of course, the next morning, Everything Changed.

The day after I stuck my head into the Oval Office, this is as close as I (and most anyone) could get to the White House...

And, as I wandered the streets, this was the mood in the city...

As people (of all stripes) gathered and watched news reports of the terrorist attacks...

Plenty of ink has been spilled on what happened in between September 11, 2001 and this most recent election. As I heard more than a few times on the campaign trail: "Now is not the time to point fingers."

Instead, I just wanted to reflect on what a liberating and healing bookend November 4, 2008 was. Lucky to be in DC for the big night, I joined others in front of televisions again.

But, by far, the most remarkable moments that night came as I got swept up and taken down those same streets where I walked virtually alone on September 11. The destination, of course, was The White House. My camera was dead at that point, but, we fortunately now have Flickr and YouTube to record our collective memories.

(photo by goldmember)

With the two videos below, I challenge you to find such similarity between a Fox News report and an Al Jazeera story on the same subject (!!!). Talk about change we need.

On that Fox piece above, I love that Brit Hume was not only gracious, but dryly noted that "it really is fun watching those people jumping up and down.... you know, there is something about jumping up and down that is good for the soul. It's a universal sign of joy."

(BTW, here is a great man-on-the-street account of the craziness that was DC on Tuesday night. Fast forward to the first minute or so.)

On a professional note, I'm watching all the stories flood in about the high (read unreasonable) expectations for the Obama administration around tech policy. I'll get to that in a bit. But for another day or two, let me rest my sore ankles. Too much jumping.

Obama Tech Policy Video Released Today...

There must be a big undecided geek vote that I don't know about.

Video covers... Competitiveness motherhood and apple pie.... Government openness and transparency.... Universal broadband access... Wireless spectrum = good.... yay tech education... electronic health care records (remember those?).... and go cleantech...