What Will Obama's CTO Job Look Like? - Page 2

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At present, the government's social media efforts are hamstrung by the sites' terms of service agreements. Certain elements of the standard agreements those sites maintain are unacceptable to federal agencies, such as the indemnification requirements and the stipulation of legal jurisdiction, so government lawyers need to negotiate unique service policies before they will allow the staff to start Twittering or posting videos on YouTube.

The CTO could help coordinate those efforts, but that is really a microcosm of the tasks facing the individual who occupies the position, according to Andrew Rasiej, founder of the Personal Democracy Forum, a site that focuses on the intersection of technology and government.

"The scope of responsibilities is ensuring that the entire apparatus of the executive branch of our government reboots itself into a 21st-century stance," Rasiej told InternetNews.com.

For a sense of how far-ranging that apparatus is, one need only consult with ObamaCTO.org, a Web site created by the Seattle firm FrontSeat.org for users to vote for their top priorities for the CTO.

As of this writing, the top item on the list was to "ensure the Internet is widely accessible and network neutral." Other top priorities, in descending order by vote count, are: "Ensure our privacy and repeal the Patriot Act"; "Repeal the Digital Millennium Copyright Act" and "Open Government Data (APIs, XML, RSS)."

How much the CTO moves the needle on issues like Net neutrality, which Obama has already identified as a top priority, will depend on how much responsibility the position shoulders in shaping policy.

"I would assume it would have a high impact on outward technology policies, and it's going to have a high impact on the technology industry," GSA's Dorris told InternetNews.com.

She added that the first order of business would be "to work with the administration to identify its top priority and apply technology to its solution," and that she expects the position to take a lead role in working with lawmakers and their staffers on the Hill to move legislation through Congress.

That suggests that the CTO could take a broader consulting role in a host of pressing issues that have traditionally been outside the realm of tech policy, such as the healthcare and the financial crisis.

After all, as Godwin pointed out, "Technology is just the tool, so how do you use that to achieve the priorities of the administration?"

In the meantime, Obama continues to break ground in his use of technology while shoring up his transition team with tech-savvy advisers.

On Saturday, Obama delivered the weekly radio address for the Democratic Party, but also posted the YouTube video on the Web site for his transition team, Change.gov.

Late last week, the president-elect named the team leaders for his agency review of the Federal Communications Commission. One is Susan Crawford, a law professor at the University of Michigan specializing in Internet and communications law, who recently finished a stint on the board of directors for the Internet governing body ICANN.

Joining Crawford will be Ken Werbach, a professor at the Wharton School at the University of Pennsylvania who served as a counsel in the FCC during the Clinton administration.