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Google Public Policy Blog

Google's views on government, policy and politics.

Recapping last week's Google D.C. Talk on cybersecurityJuly 2

Posted by Harry Wingo, Policy Counsel

To help spark ideas and stimulate discussion following the release of the President's cyberspace policy review, last Friday we teamed up with the Center for a New American Security to bring together a panel of experts representing government, military, and industry for a Google D.C. Talk, "Developing a National Cybersecurity Strategy."

Included in the President's action plan is the goal of developing a "strategy to expand and train the workforce, including attracting and retaining cybersecurity expertise in the Federal government" -- a key point we discussed during Friday's event. Philip Reitinger of the Department of Homeland Security noted that we need to expand the talent pool, which will likely require getting young people excited about the possibilities of working in IT.

I'm convinced that there should be a long-term focus on educating and cultivating future computer scientists (including putting cybersecurity in the curriculum at every step). Students are introduced to foreign languages as early as grammar school -- why not also introduce them to the basics of code?

Beyond K-12, we should expand programs like the National Science Foundation's Scholarship For Service, which provides support to undergraduate and graduate students focusing on information assurance. Thoughtful investments in programs that support computer science education today will help us to build a strong pipeline for the next generation of cybersecurity professionals.

The panel also discussed the Cybersecurity Act of 2009, which some had argued would give the President the authority to shut down the Internet. Ellen Doneski, Chief of Staff for the Senate Commerce Committee, addressed these concerns head-on and explained that the language in the bill will be rewritten with input from stakeholders.

Check out video from the event to see what our panelists had to say:

Self-regulatory principles for behavioral advertisingJuly 2

Posted by Pablo Chavez, Managing Policy Counsel

As our Deputy General Counsel Nicole Wong mentioned in her congressional testimony a few weeks ago, we've been a part of a broad effort over the past several months to develop a set of self-regulatory principles for online behavioral advertising. In fact, we were one of the first companies to be involved in this discussion.

After a lot of discussion and hard work among a diverse group of companies and associations, those principles were released today, and I think the end result will be even more transparency and choice for Internet users about how their information is used.

When we launched our own interest-based advertising product in March, we worked hard to include several innovative features to give users more control and information -- including ads labeled "Ads by Google," a tool called the Ads Preferences Manager (w

British Columbia leading on open data and open governmentJune 29

Posted by Jacob Glick, Canada Policy Counsel

Maybe it's the clean ocean air, maybe it's the vast mountains, but there's an open government revolution afoot in British Columbia.

In May the City of Vancouver passed a motion to open its data to the public. Inspired by Washington D.C.'s open data project, the city hopes to promote civic engagement, improve decision-making, and deepen accountability.

Social media expert David Eaves has been one of the key proponents and advisers behind Vancouver's open data initiative. I recently saw David speak about his theory of the "long tail of public policy." He believes that while there's lots of expertise within government, there's also untapped expertise outside of government -- from you, me, your family, and your neighbors. This knowledge -- the long tail -- on any given public policy issue is greater than the collective knowledge within government. Policymakers therefore need to learn how to tap this know-how in order to make better decisions. Check out his presentation below:



Not to be outdone, the British Columbia provincial government has an office whose primary

Google D.C. Talk next week: Wired's Chris Anderson on the power of freeJune 29

Posted by Adam Kovacevich, Senior Manager, Global Communications and Public Affairs

At our next Google D.C. Talk on Tuesday, July 7, Wired editor Chris Anderson will talk about the power of a price: $0.00.

In his new book, Free: The Future of a Radical Price, Anderson makes the provocative case that in many instances businesses can profit more from giving things away than they can by charging for them.

But if the product is free, where's the revenue? And how do you compete when your competitors are giving away what you're trying to sell? We'll ask Chris those questions and more.

Google D.C. Talks presents
A Conversation with Chris Anderson,
Free: The Future of a Radical Price
Tuesday, July 7, 2009
10:00 AM - 11:30 AM ET
Google Washington Office
1101 New York Avenue, NW, Second Floor

Google endorses Declaration of Health Data RightsJune 22

Posted by Roni Zeiger, M.D., Product Manager, Google Health and Missy Krasner, Product Marketing Manager, Google Health

From its inception Google Health has been about giving patients control over their medical data. For starters, that means we help people access their health information, give them a safe and secure place to store it, and let them share it with others if they wish. Over time our goal is to help consumers play a larger role in their own healthcare by empowering them with the information they need to make better healthcare decisions.

As part of this effort, we're endorsing an industry-wide Declaration of Health Data Rights. Unveiled today at HealthDataRights.org, the Declaration aligns with the principles behind Google Health: consumer empowerment, privacy protection, and data portability. We've joined a diverse group of stakeholders -- including doctors, researchers, technology companies, writers, entrepreneurs, health economists, and others -- that have come together to support this effort to promote greater patient access to personal health data.

While most of the rights outlined in the Declaration are already included in the Health Ins