Oct 14, 2008

As we announced last month, the 3rd annual Tech Policy Summit will take place March 23-25, 2009 in the Bay Area and we're currently working with our advisors and others to develop the program.

The 2009 advisory board includes Prith Banerjee, John Chen, Esther Dyson, Reid Hoffman, David Hornik, Mitch Kapor, Chris Kelly, Raman Khanna, Craig Nemark, Kim Polese and Chris Shipley. We're very fortunate to have the guidance of these tech investors and executives and, from time to time, we will be sharing updates from and about them here on Tech Policy Central.

For starters, we asked craigslist founder Craig Newmark, who will be speaking at the 2009 Summit, a few questions about the election and the tech policy issues that matter most to him:

Tech Policy Central: When it comes to promoting technology innovation, what do you think the top priorities should be for the next Administration and Congress?

Craig Nemark: Universal broadband access, to provide equal access for everyone as a matter of economic fairness. Promotion of alternate power for jobs and energy independence.

TPC: You're currently on the Board of Directors of The Sunlight Foundation, which advocates for increased government transparency and accountability. How do you think the Internet can help citizens become more aware of and involved in the political process, and what role do you see tech entrepreneurs playing in this effort?

CN: Most don't want to participate more. But, for people who want to be active citizens, [tools include]: better fact checking like factcheck.org; transparency tools which make it easy to see the flows of money in politics, like lobbyist contributions and the results in legislation and contracts; 311 customer service programs for all levels of government; means for politicians to distinguish constituent emails from mass-produced form emails. Technology people are making all of this possible.

TPC: You've said on numerous occasions that you'd rather not get involved in politics but that you have done so because you feel that this election year is a historic one. Why do you believe the 2008 election is so significant?

CN: I think "2008 is the new 1776." The Founders gave us a pretty good system of representative democracy, and the means for small-scale grassroots democracy. The Net provides the means for large-scale grassroots democracy
and to reduce the role of money in politics.

For more from Craig, check out Kai Ryssdal's interview with him at Tech Policy Summit '08; the podcast is available in the Media Vault.

Tags: 2008 elections, advisors, broadband, cleantech, Craig Newmark, Sunlight Foundation, Tech Policy Summit, transparency