Not everyone is happy with Obama's pick for Deputy CTO

Posted By Evgeny Morozov Wednesday, June 3, 2009 - 5:16 PM Share

For a few days now the blogosphere has been buzzing with the news of Andrew McLaughlin's appointment as Deputy CTO in the Obama administration (most recently, McLaughlin has served as Head of Global Public Policy and Government Affairs at Google but he has also been very close to Harvard's Berkman Center and instrumental in the early days of ICANN).

Personally, I think it is terrific news - McLaughlin is definitely one of the most knowledgeable people to take on the daunting task of revamping the US government's tech activities. It also helps that he already seems to have a sharp vision for the work ahead: those of you who want to get a few hints of what to expect during McLaughlin's tenure may want to check out the video of his recent talk on the subject of "government 2.0" at the Web2.0 Expo that took place in April 2009.

Apparently, not everyone is happy with McLaughlin's appointment. NextGov has more:

Two consumer groups have lined up to oppose President Obama's pending appointment of Google's Andrew McLaughlin as deputy chief technology officer in the White House. In a letter to Obama, John Simpson, consumer advocate at Consumer Watchdog (formerly the Foundation for Taxpayer and Consumer Rights), and Jeffery Chester, executive director of the Center for Digital Technology, said McLaughlin's position as Google's director of global public policy violates the intent of the president's ethics rules to stop the revolving door between lobbyists and the executive branch.

Here is an excerpt from the letter (PDF):

We do not object to Mr. McLaughlin's appointment because he is associated with Google per se. The problem is that he has been a lobbyist for the biggest digital marketing company in the world, and we believe no special-interest connected person should assume a position of vital importance to the country's future. It would be just as inappropriate for a lobbyist from Microsoft, Yahoo! or any similar technology company to be appointed deputy chief technology officer.

It would be just as inappropriate for a lobbyist from Microsoft, Yahoo! or any similar technology company to be appointed deputy chief technology officer.