Creating a CTO position in the U.S. Government?

An interesting article appeared in Friday’s - 11/14/08 Washington Post regarding President Elect Barack Obama’s plan to appoint the nation’s first Chief Technology Officer.

According to Obama’s Website this person would help “to make government work better” by helping federal agencies use technology. It has not been determined whether this person would hold a Cabinet level position or just an administrative slot.

Another question is whether the potential CTO would be an executive from the tech sector or someone currently in the Government.

Some have mentioned current Google CEO Eric Schmidt (he has already stated he is not interested) or Vint Cerf, who is the ‘Chief Internet Evangelist’ at Google – either of these choices would have likely caused a storm anyway since Google has a major stake in how the government approaches ‘net neutrality’ and regulates broadband in general. Here is Google’s guide on Net Neutrality: http://www.google.com/help/netneutrality.html

Over the past two years Google has greatly increased its lobbying presence in D.C. With the new administration, it will be interesting to see how complex issues like ‘net neutrality’ (especially in Google’s case) are handled.

No matter what, the focus on technology in general and the possibility of appointing someone to devote more focus on how technology can help make things more efficient amongst the various government agencies seems like a good move for any administration.

For any of you who are in the dark about this here is a quick recap. Earlier this month we did a story on how Barack Obama was the first Presidential Candidate in History to campaign through ‘in-game’ advertising.  Obama’s mug can now be seen in 18 Electronic Arts titles that he had bought advertising rights within.  Xbox Live will be hosting the ads and they will be running until November 3rd. Holly Rockwood, the director of corporate communications at Electronic Arts stated “I can confirm that the Obama campaign has paid for in-game advertising.”

At the time Rockwood would not reveal how much the Senator had paid for these advertisements, but since the Obama campaign’s filling with the General Election Commission that figure has been revealed. Obama paid $44,465 smackers for in-game advertising with EA; not too expensive when you consider he is paying a cool million for each TV spot.

EA is not officially endorsing Obama, as Rockwood was quoted as saying “these ads do not reflect the political policies of EA or the opinions of its development teams.”  According to GamePolitics some of EA’s higher-ups’ are Obama supporters. One of them being CEO John Riccitiello who has donated $4,600 to the Obama Campaign.

People who have been ignoring their civic duty and have been spending more time gaming than being involved in the shaping the future of our country, your days are numbered.

Last week while gamers were pealing out in Burnout Paradise, a new title released by EA; they noticed when passing one of those hairpin turns an Obama campaign billboard rising in the distance. It has recently been confirmed that Barack Obama is indeed the first Presidential Candidate to purchase ad space inside a video game. according to the Associated Press Obama has paid for add space in 9 EA titles, including Madden 09, and Burnout Paradise.

“I can confirm that the Obama campaign has paid for in-game advertising in Burnout” Holly Rockwood, the director of corporate communications at Electronic Arts stated “like most television, radio, and print outlets, we accept advertising from credible political candidates.” She also went on to say “Like political spots on the television networks, these ads do not reflect the political policies of EA or the opinions of its development teams.”

The idea of advertising within video games is a relatively new concept and was less than a consideration for candidates 18 months ago.  Although some may say Obama is sending mixed messages through these ads; seeing how he had stated earlier that parents should cut back on their children’s game time, maybe it is just his less than subtle way of motivating gamers to get involved.