BOL 1033: Special interview with federal CTO Aneesh Chopra

Federal CTO Aneesh Chopra drops by to chat with us about the technology policies of the current U.S. administration. We ask him our own questions as well as some from the audience. Get Chopra's takes on Broadband, health care, Net neutrality, education, and more.

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The following is a rundown of the topics covered in this comprehensive interview and the questions asked by the hosts as well as some questions submitted by fans of Buzz Out Loud. Thanks for your participation, everyone!

ROLE OF FEDERAL CTO
Tom: What is the role of the Associate Director for Technology of Science and Technology Policy and how does it differ from the CIO, FCC, etc…
“As Chief Technology Officer, Chopra’s job will be to promote technological innovation to help the country meet its goals, such as job creation, reducing health care costs, and protecting the homeland. Together with Chief Information Officer Vivek Kundra, their jobs are to make the government more effective, efficient, and transparent.” –Obama

BROADBAND INFRASTRUCTURE
Molly: Do you believe that every American has the right to high-speed Internet access? Should this become a utility that is regulated by the government, with infrastructure and expansion required in the same way as common carrier lines?

Tom: What is the plan to lift the U.S. higher in the rankings for broadband infrastructure and access?

HEALTH CARE
Karl Robstad, MD (’Dr. Karl’): You have previously mentioned health IT as one of your top priorities. As a doctor, the effective rolling out of a cohesive EMR system is something we have all been keeping an eye on ,as the utter lack of cohesion even within hospitals is readily apparent. To that effect, do you plan on supporting the distribution of a single EMR system, country-wide? If so, would you recommend the current VA LIS system or would you support a private effort such as Google’s? Would such integration be mandatory or voluntary? If mandated, what kind of timeline seems feasible? Would a national EMR system give patients full, unfettered access to their medical records, or would there still be an element of professional privilege available?
Thank you for this opportunity.

NET NEUTRALITY
kenwiesener: While I understand that the FCC is currently investigating wireless open access (RM-11361) and handset exclusivity (RM-11497) and that it may not be appropriate to comment on those investigations, my question to Mr. Chopra is how does the Obama administration view Net Neutrality with regard to the mobile product and service space in general and do you believe that it is the role of government agencies such as the FCC, FTC, etc. to regulate mobile application stores like the App Store to ensure equal footing for developers and to promote consumer choice? Thank you for your response!

EDUCATION
Natali: What is the real picture in terms of public education and technology? Do most public schools have technology that will prepare them for the workforce? What are some of the ways that the government is trying to bridge the digital divide in underclassed areas?

SOCIAL NETWORKING AND CYBERSECURITY
cyberman375: What is the Administration's guidance on balancing the emerging capabilities of social networking, and the security constraints? Some issues seem to be easy, such as banning the use of peer-to-peer file sharing on government computers. Others, such as restricting the use of Twitter, would remove what is becoming an important tool for policy makers to communicate directly to people. Given that using Twitter, Facebook and puts some security and operational readiness concerns into non-government hands, how seriously can the Government afford to move services into depending on social networking as a major form of communication? –

OPEN SOURCE
KevinDupuy: With the huge deficit, why doesn’t the Fed Gov switch to proven open source tech, like SUSE or Red Hat instead of Windows?

ONLINE VOTING
Natali: Will we ever have online voting that is both reliable and secure? (also asked on blog by cybergorilla)

U.S. military may ban Twitter, Facebook as “security headaches”
http://www.boingboing.net/2009/08/03/us-military-may-ban.html

Network neutrality in Congress, round three: Fight!
http://arstechnica.com/tech-policy/news/2009/08/the-war-over-network-neutrality.ars
http://ostp.gov/

Open Government Initiative
http://www.whitehouse.gov/open/