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Yahoo's Political Chief Gets Political
by Heather Greenfield
Shortly after helping launch Yahoo's election section, Cyrus Krohn is leaving the company to become the e-campaign director for the Republican National Committee.
Krohn has helped develop political campaign tools offered by Yahoo during his two years there. "It's time to begin the next adventure," he said. He starts the RNC job this week for what he described as "a high-speed race to victory on Nov., 4, 2008, as an online political operative based in Washington, D.C."
"If unsuccessful, I'm opening up headquarters in Second Life and running my own virtual USA -- unless John Edwards beats me to it!" Krohn said.
He said it is tough leaving the friends and work at Yahoo now that the election site is getting 500 million unique users a month. He predicted that the site will be a major player in Election 2008.
It's not Krohn's first time in Washington. He lived here more than a dozen years ago when he worked for former President George H.W. Bush. He left the area in 1995 to work for Microsoft, publishing the online magazine Slate (now owned by The Washington Post Company). He had no plans to return to the East Coast but said the opportunity to work for the next president was "too compelling to pass up."
Krohn will be working for RNC Chief of Staff Anne Hathaway, who he worked with during his time at the White House.
Larry Lessig's Next Cause: Political Corruption
Stanford law professor Larry Lessig, a leading activist for more open intellectual property rules, has announced plans to fight what he now sees as a bigger battle: political corruption.
Lessig has spent the past 10 years advocating the free exchange of ideas through more open copyrights on intellectual property like books, software and music. He said a combination of the latest book by Democratic presidential candidate Barack Obama and a conversation with another lobbyist spurred his desire to focus on corruption for the next 10 years.
Lessig said despite being a "beginner" on the topic, he will bring " as much energy to these issues of 'corruption' as I've devoted to the issues of network and IP sanity."
"This is a shift not to an easier project but a different project," he wrote on his blog. "It is a decision to give up my work in a place some consider me an expert to begin work in a place where I am nothing more than a beginner."
Lessig said he will not leave as CEO of Creative Commons or the iCommons Project, efforts that offer content creators alternatives to traditional copyright law. He will continue to serve on both boards and will speak and promote both organizations whenever possible. He also will continue to head Stanford's Center for Internet and Society. But he will leave other boards and no longer lecture on intellectual property issues, at least not regularly.
"This new set of issues is, in my view, critically important," Lessig wrote. "Indeed, I'm convinced we will not solve the IP related issues until these "corruption" related issues are resolved."
Verizon Lobbyist Named To Media Board
Susanne Guyer of Verizon Communications has been elected to the Media Institute's board of trustees. Guyer is senior vice president federal regulatory affairs for Verizon in Washington.
She lobbies on a wide range of issues, including high-speed Internet deployment, entry into the video services market, telecommunications competition and consumer protection.
Guyer has extensive background in consumer and business marketing, state regulatory matters, and external affairs gained over the course of her career at Bell Atlantic, New England Telephone, NYNEX and Verizon. She played a key regulatory advocacy role in the Bell Atlantic- NYNEX merger in 1997, the Bell Atlantic-GTE merger that formed Verizon in 2000, and the Verizon acquisition of MCI in 2005.
Senate Democrats Revive Tech Task Force
Democratic Sens. John Kerry of Massachusetts and Mark Pryor of Arkansas will be the new co-chairmen of the Senate Democratic High-Tech Task Force. Majority Leader Harry Reid, D-Nev., made the announcement, saying the group will work with high-tech industries to address Democratic priorities.
Reid said the party's tech priorities include meeting the educational and training needs of the 21st-century workforce; protecting the environment; strengthening the economy, U.S. global competitiveness and innovation through sustained investments; and enhancing homeland security.
The task force "will ensure that the relationships between Senate Democrats and the high-tech community remain strong," Reid said. "No senator has a stronger commitment to advancing U.S. innovation and competitiveness than Senator Kerry and Senator Pryor."
Pryor said his goal is to give the United States "the upper hand in bringing these innovative technologies to the global market. These developments will not only provide good jobs but also enhance our day to day lives."
"The high-technology industry faces important challenges and has a number of issues before the Congress," Kerry added. "I look forward to working with the industry to advance a pro-growth, pro-innovation agenda."
FCC's Tate Is Up For Reappointment
President Bush has re-nominated Deborah Taylor Tate to continue serving on the FCC. Tate is serving as a commissioner under a term that ends June 30. The new nomination would give her a full five-year term if the Democratic Senate approves.
"If confirmed, I look forward to continuing to work closely with Commissioner Tate," FCC Chairman Kevin Martin said. "She has served admirably at the commission for the past year-and-a-half, and I appreciate her continued dedication to public service. Debi brings important insight to the commission, including her distinguished career as a leader in state government."
Tate has been especially valuable to Martin, as he can typically count on her to vote with him on issues. She has worked with him to try to cap federal support for wireless carriers in rural areas, for instance. Both Martin and Tate are Republicans.
Tate is a former Tennessee utility regulator and has been a senior advisor to various Tennessee governors. During her time at the FCC, Tate has chaired both the Federal-State Joint Board on Universal Service and the Federal-State Joint Board on Jurisdictional Separations.
Quote Of The Week
"Our research shows that consumers will not accept 30-second spots, like on TV. We're talking about targeted, personalized marketing messages. But we also need to protect consumers' privacy rights."
-- Bob Wright of General Electric, which owns NBC Universal, speaking about how innovations in advertising content will finance social networks around the world.
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