Obama Administration CTO Top Suggestions

Check out the top vote getters for suggestions to the nations’s first CTO!

#5 with 5,835 votes

Open Government Data (APIs, XML, RSS) We can unleash a wave of civic innovation if we open up government data to programmers. The government has a treasure trove of information: legislation, budgets, voter files, campaign finance data, census data, etc. Let’s STANDARDIZE, STRUCTURE, and OPEN up this data.

#4 with 6,460 votes

Complete the job on metrication that Ronald Reagan defunded The government has failed to take the lead on completing the task of moving the country completely to the SI metric system. George H.W. Bush tried to do something about it, but gave the bureaucrats an easy out. Failure to follow the same measurement standards as the rest of the world is costing US industry something like $1 trillion per year.

#3 with 8,454 votes

Repeal the Digital Milennium Copyright Act (DMCA) It is evident that the framers of the infamous Digital Millenium Copyright Act intended it to have a transformative effect on the public and legal perception of intellectual property. In the attempt to develop a fully-realized definition of what constitutes infringement, fair use, and the rights of users in the consumption of digital works, the DMCA has had quite the opposite effect by institutionalizing considerable legal ambiguity. The recent spat between the John McCain presidential campaign and YouTube has demonstrated that both practitioners of law and a leading supporter of the DMCA are no closer to understanding the controversial law than the general populace.With so much confusion and abuse surrounding the DMCA, isn’t it time we start over and take a fresh approach to intellectual property that doesn’t irreconcilably tip the scales in favor of big media?

#2 with 10,105 votes

ensure our privacy and repeal the patriot act. The patriot act had many sub-ordinate clauses that strip away our privacy as American citizens. These were shoehorned in as an effort to protect us, while they in fact strip us of certain rights to privacy as citizens. Lets protect our nation while ensuring confidence and privacy to our citizens.

And #1 with 12,957 votes

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.

The only suggestion with “cloud” had 9 votes

Establish the “gov cloud” for commodity computing
Why keep separate email servers across Federal government? Why keep data servers in downtown DC, some located in a flood plain? Why not centralize management of, and provide ubiquitous access to: email, portals, collaboration sites, expertise profiles, etc.?