Obama names first US chief technology officer

US President Barack Obama has named a Harvard-educated Indian-American to the newly created post of chief technology officer in an appointment much-awaited by Silicon Valley.

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The move to an e-White House has inched closer with the appointment of a Chief Technology Officer in the US. However, one of the major hindrances for Obama's vision of an open democracy using new media technologies is the barriers created by antiquated practices:

But hopes that the president can unleash a technology revolution and create a new e-White House in government have come up against antiquated government technology and privacy and security restrictions.

The implementation of new media technologies is essentially contested. Privacy represents individual liberties whereas security represents the collective good. It is difficult to improve one without impinging upon the other.

There are no quick solutions to the individual liberties/public good dilemma, but there are ramifications for getting it wrong. At least in the US, some steps are being taken toward overcoming the traditional barriers to new media use. However, Australia is nowhere near this level of consideration in the policy process. While it may be happening in-house, the public are simply left out.

What must happen is an open, public debate to determine the public interest. There are some specific questions which must be addressed: What is more important, individual privacy or national security? Are issues concerning individual privacy and national security more important than a technologically-driven and open democracy? How important are social media to the economy and standards of living?

Australia tends to adopt a wait-and-see approach which has advantages and disadvantages. The major advantage is that resources are not wasted on dead-end approaches. The major disadvantage is that developing a national culture of innovation remains a pipe dream.

The promise of the digital revolution is on our doorstep now. It remains to be seen whether the federal government will open the door or wait to see what the neighbours do before acting. The trouble with the latter approach is that we are always one step behind.

Given our small population and vast resources, we have the capacity to take the lead in the use of new media as the NBN is rolled out. However, as the US is discovering, antiquated practices are a major hindrance.

Ordinary citizens have few options unless the federal government takes the lead. But the first step is to have the public debate, and new media are the vehicles which will enable the debate to happen.

We are all waiting. Your move, Mr Rudd.

Independent body must supervise NBN rollout

Some homes will miss out on the Rudd government's $43 billion plan to roll out fibre-optic broadband cables to households, a frontbencher admits.

The NBN is an ambitious project and has certainly turned previous ideas about addressing Australia's broadband woes on their heads. But small towns will still miss out on fibre access under the current plan for the NBN.

While small towns 'missing out' is not such a good thing, the announcement this week that Australia will launch more satellites to cover remote areas is good news.

But politics will either make or break the Rudd Government's ambitious plan. It is time that an independent government agency was established to remove Australia's communications infrastructure from day-to-day politics. Afterall, politicians have avoided the issue for over two decades.

Another reason for removing politics from the infrastructure is technological convergence. As the NBN impacts upon television, newspaper and other traditional media businesses, there will be calls to protect them from becoming irrelevant in the broadband era.

My view is that if these businesses have not kept up with changes in the media communications industry, then the public should not have to put up with outdated modes of veiwing content to keep a handful of people rich.

Creating an independent government agency with clear goals to connect Australia must be considered in the early stages of the NBN. If this doesn't happen, you can be sure interested parties who occupy the periphery will present a major risk to the success of the NBN. The infrastructure is too important to be caught up in the political point-scoring games which are sure to follow once all the traditional interests converge.

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NBN Reaction: ZDNet Video

Check out this video from ZDNet: Sydneysiders' reactions to the NBN.