Notes from interview session led by Lee Rainie, director of the Pew Internet & American Life Project, with Sir Tim Berners-Lee and Danny Weitzner (@djweitzner) formerly W3C Technology & Society policy director, now the associate administrator for policy at the National Telecommunications and Information Administration
Category Archives: Electronic Democracy
WWW2010 : Open Government Panel
The opening plenary panel offers perspectives from both sides of the Atlantic on the move to make government data more open and accessible on the Web (data.gov and data.gov.uk). Panelists:
- Inventor of the World Wide Web, Sir Tim Berners-Lee;
- Archivist of the United States, David Ferriero;
- Professor James Hendler of RPI, who will moderate the discussion;
- UNC professor and Director of iBiblio.org,Paul Jones;
- Andrew McLaughlin, Deputy U.S. Chief Technology Officer in the Executive Office of the President; and
- University of Southampton Professor Nigel Shadbolt, Director of the Web Science Trust and Web Foundation
Notes only; no analysis.
White House Makes Questionable Copyright Claim On Government Photos
Let me preface this post by reminding folks that IANAL (I am not a lawyer).
Example of White House Flickr Photo
The U.S. government policy on photographs and copyright is pretty straightfoward: photos produced by federal employees as part of their job responsibilities are “not subject to copyright in the United States and there are no U.S. copyright restrictions on reproduction, derivative works, distribution, performance, or display of the work.”
Why, then, is the Obama White House asserting that no one but “news organizations” can use its Flickr photos? Why is it asserting that manipulation is prohibited? Why is it asserting that photos may not be used in “commercial or political materials, advertisements, emails, products, promotions that in any way suggests approval or endorsement of the President, the First Family, or the White House”?
Twitter + Politics
Presentation for tonight. PPT. Slideshare to come!
YouTube and Congress Reach Detente
Remember the hoop-dee-do-dah in 2008 about Congressional use of social media? As the 111th Congress debuts, YouTube has released two hubs, Youtube.com/senatehub and Youtube.com/househub where citizens can check out their Senators or Representatives.
Here’s hoping that sharp eyes keep a lookout for content that crosses the line from governing to electioneering. Remember: it’s not legal to campaign with government resources. And even though this resource is privately offered, it’s endorsed officially and should be used for governance only.
Mark my words: that restriction is going to be hard to enforce. Continue reading
