I also recently took part in a somewhat chaotic chat sponsored by Network World on the subject of the intersection of politics and technology, as in what the new Obama administration might want to do with respect to IT. I’ve often found that chats involving more than three or four people are really tough to do – you can’t read what everyone is writing and compose thoughtful comments in real time, especially if some paticipants are tossing out URLs to support their arguments (a completely inappropriate tactic, IMHO) and there’s no time for a meaningful read. The transcript has been edited and re-organized a bit, but some expansion would still be useful I think, to wit:
– It appears we will have a federal CTO, which I think could help in getting a consolidated, interoperable, cost-effective IT plan for the federal government together. But this is Washington, and politics is way more important than technology. I don’t expect, therefore, this initiative to yield any benefits in the next four years, apart from some consciousness-raising. Do you really think that a bunch of entrenched bureaucrats in big government departments will willingly follow another leader? Nope; ain’t going to happen.
– We need legislation that states that any information about an individual belongs to the individual. Such is already the case with medical records and tax filings, and needs to be WRT credit reports and any other data stored in private (or public) databases. I couldn’t care less if commerce is restricted by the need to keep one’s private data private – as I said in the chat, “Commerce at the expense of freedom isn’t commerce. It’s tyranny”. There are big constitutional issues here, so this will take time to sort out. Oh, yes, the unconstitutional Patriot Acts should be repealed immediately.
– Carriers must carry – that’s network neutrality. I have no problem with them charging by QoS provided there’s some form of fair access for those on the bottom tier. And they must allow any compatible devices and applications on their networks – the carriers should not be allowed to compete with their own customers. That’s open access. Both network neutrality and open access need to appear in law, or at least policy, as soon as possible. Communications are essential to the economy, which will need a lot of help for some time. Bad policy shouldn’t be contributing to the problem.
– As I noted, the President has lost his BlackBerry, and it’s likely been replaced with a secure, NSA-approved, government-issue wireless PDA. While there’s nothing fundamentally insecure about wireless (as some continue to believe), I’ve done enough government projects to realize that the BlackBerry service is totally inappropriate for government-class secure applications.
– Education has been a disaster in the hands of government. Education at all levels should be privatized – why not have a competitive market in education, with government setting policies and objectives, but the private sector providing operations? Education is not a one-size, fits-all deliverable. We spend vast amounts of money on public education every year, and yet our results are nowhere near as good as many countries that spend less. Since we’re out of money, it’s time to re-think this whole space with no potential solution off the table.
– And, if you really want to stimulate the economy, forget massive government spending programs that will simply drive up the debt, make us less secure, take years to work, and spur massive inflation and higher taxes down the road. Instead, cut taxes. Give the people their own money to spend, save, or invest. All of these possible actions are good for the economy, all work quickly, and this path is clearly the more ethical regardless. I should mention here that I really don’t trust the government to do anything right; there’s today a fundamental disconnect between the government and the people. Government should be about making and enforcing laws – setting the context in which we otherwise operate – and, with a few exceptions, not providing services or trying to “fix” the economy that they had a big hand in breaking in the first place.
I think that covers everything we discussed, although, given the scope of challenges faced by IT as an industry and the nation as a whole, there could have been a lot more on the agenda. There is regardless.
