Thanks to Tarey Johnson on the Minnesota Voices Online for giving me the heads up on a fun interview with Annesh Chopra. Here’s the description of the interview:
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.
Here are my notes – in case you’d prefer secondhand notes to watching the half hour video:
Should broadband be a utility?
The President does say that broadband for everyone is critical for global competitiveness.
The FCC is looking at the policy aspects of broadband.
There are 2 themes:
- Innovation & supply – providing access to everyone and making it affordable
- Innovation & application – build the killer app
Do you feel like access is there?
iPhone has started the cell phone shift from primarily voice traffic to more data traffic.
We are interested in promoting access not only to wireless but to lots of appliances.
The US ranks low on the international spectrum. How can we change this?
We need a broadband strategy – countries that rank well have a strategy. We should have started this years ago. I’m more interested in how we use the technology. Are there policy barriers getting in the way of smart use?
Standardization has helped in Europe especially with mobile market.
We need to get people to engage on standards. We need the spirit of innovation too – but standardization can help us move forward.
Health IT – we need a cohesive plan for EMR.
We have a fundamental problem in healthcare in that we handle illness, not health and prevention. We need to build incentives to help healthcare providers to use technology to help people keep healthy. E-visits could then be used to keep people healthy. Text message updates could filter down info that people want based on healthcare situation.
But what about challenges of email vs HIPPA?
Meaningful use will be driving Health IT in the next few months. One we define meaningful use – we can tackle privacy and security.
What about Net Neutrality?
The feds will not regulate app store. The President is clear about the fact that the US has benefitted by openness. Stimulus funding includes openness to technology.
Which is most helpful competitive or regulation?
We need to spur innovation through collaboration. We need a secure infrastructure to promote innovation.
How do we get more choices?
We recognize this need and that’s why we focused on un- and underserved areas. If you live in a rural area access to broadband is probably a main concern.
EDU
What’s up with technology in public schools? Are students getting the skills they need in schools?
Again we focus on meaningful use. We have investments in technology in schools – we need to make sure we’re doing that for the right reasons. We need to experiment and create a plan. But we also need to let students learn to use fully functioning computers by not turning off features that they’ll need to be able to use in future jobs.
Some of what we do needs to be done quickly, which means working within current policies.
How do you balance security and social media?
It’s been tough to work within the constraints – but safety is a top priority. We are working on provisioning secure access to social media tools.
Are these tools truly useful? The Marines just put a ban on the tools.
It comes back to meaningful use. In 90 days INS will offer updates on immigration applications based on your preference – text message, email… That’s a meaningful use.
Why doesn’t the government use open source?
Open collaboration is more important.
There are a lot of good people doing good work. It’s nice to have leadership that’s committed to using technology. They’re getting good work done quickly.
