As part of its $1 Billion lawsuit against Google, the parent company of YouTube, a judge has ordered the video sharing site to hand over its entire database containing the history of all user actions, including what videos each visitor has watched and uploaded. This database includes users' IP addresses and their usernames, if applicable. This decision represents a hideous breach of privacy and brings to light several very important, and scary, issues.

Chris went through and did a nice long update on the SEO we are doing on John McCain.  I would really reccomend reading his whole piece here:
http://www.openleft.com/showDiary.do;jse ssionid=FE15F357D579AA778E81BCBDDF38E376 ?diaryId=6199
or if you prefer orange here:
http://www.dailykos.com/storyonly/2008/6 /5/173828/7509/375/530501

HRC will win PA, and NC too....at least according to Mr Google

Compare the site traffic for their respective websties over the past 12 months

http://www.google.com/trends?q=Barack+Ob ama%2C+Hillary+Clinton&ctab=0&ge o=US&geor=all&date=ytd&sort= 0

Note that in recent history (i.e., after Iowa), www.BarackObama.com consistently gets more hits than www.hillaryclinton.com  This is consistent with his frontrunner status, and also with his support profile (younger people tend to be more internet savvy than AARP types etc.).

Now look at PA and NC and IN

Traffic to HRC's website had slowed down in Feb (when she was probably given for dead), but is picking up again.

http://www.google.com/trends?q=Barack+Ob ama%2C+Hillary+Clinton&ctab=0&ge o=US&geor=usa.pa&date=ytd&so rt=0

http://www.google.com/trends?q=Barack+Ob ama%2C+Hillary+Clinton&ctab=0&ge o=US&geor=usa.nc&date=ytd&so rt=0

http://www.google.com/trends?q=Barack+Ob ama%2C+Hillary+Clinton&ctab=0&ge o=US&geor=usa.in&date=ytd&so rt=0

It seems like interest in the www.hillaryclinton.com website has really picked up in PA and NC.

Obama was feeling lucky yesterday @ Google.

The best part is the Q and A session; skip the 12min speech and go on to the Q and A. Update: I take up the challenge of one of the commenters. I was there and it was an opportunity for him to make a very compelling case for his candidacy. He spoke extensively about what would distinguish his approach to governance from the others and made a strong case for a government that adapts to technology. Most of the Questions were very pointed so we got clear responses out of him. See for yourself.

See for yourself, Tech-President Obama in Action:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=m4yVlPqeZ wo

The Embed code isn't working. don't know whyyyyyyyyyy.

code:

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http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=m4yVlPqeZ wo

I'm down in Mountain View at the Google world headquarters for the coming dialogue with Barack Obama. According to media reports, Obama will lay out his tech agenda, which includes the creation of a chief technology officer position to ensure that the federal government is conducted in an open manner, and a commitment to net neutrality. The event should be starting momentarily and I'll be liveblogging with thoughts throughout.

-------------

Obama next takes questions from the audience. The first questioner notes that Bill Clinton was the only Democrat in the post-war era to win two elections and asks Obama what he would learn from Clinton. Obama says that he believes int he importance of the moment, that Clinton understood the moment in the early 1990s, worked as a different kind of Democrat, which was a powerful message for that time. The moment today, Obama says, requires an honesty with the American people, and not necessarily doing things the way they've been done before.

Democrats lose when they are not strong about what they stand for. Democrats lose when they don't know what they stand for and get defensive when they get hit rather then going back on the offensive. In effect, Obama says "bring it on" to Giuliani and Romney about the culture of fear, saying that we don't need to redefine torture-like tactics to make them legal, that we don't need to double the size of Guantanamo.

On a question regarding the deficit, Obama says that the first step is ending the Iraq War. Obama also talks about honest accounting, not hiding debts. But the biggest problem Obama sees in terms of the federal budget is healthcare spending, Medicare and Medicaid. Technology, he says, could help with the costs. So, too, could investing in prevention.

The next question comes on the "perceived weakness" surrounding the issue of experience. Obama talks about the fact that the people who founded Google didn't have a whole lot of experience running Fortune 500 companies, which elicits more than a few laughs. Obama then says that judgment and character are paramount, but also that his experience can be put up against that of any of the other candidates. Obama points to achievements within the Illinois state Senate. Obama also speaks about standing up for what he believed in even when it wasn't necessarily popular, such as when he spoke out against the impending Iraq War even when George W. Bush was at 65 percent in the polls. Obama also speaks of finding the right talent to achieve the goals of his administration.

The final question comes on fighting special interests -- how to get insiders to fix a system they benefit from. Obama says that people need to use shame, pointing to his successful work with Russ Feingold on the toughest lobbying reform since Watergate. Transparency is important in the process, he says, because the more the American people know the more government will be held accountable. On healthcare, Obama says the lesson from the Clinton healthcare plan is that the plan shouldn't be created behind closed doors, that he would bring everyone to the table but that that table would be in the open (on C-SPAN, on the net). "And if they put up 'Harry and Louise' ads", Obama would go on YouTube and talk back. Obama also says that decisions should be made on facts and reason.

Prior updates below the fold...

Just this afternoon, the FCC denied Google's request to mandate whoesale access when the government early next year auctions new radio bandwidth, for a part of which Google pledged to pay up to $4.6 billion.  This is good news for Verizon, AT&T and the cable boys.  It is bad news -- unless it can be changed by congress -- for everyone else.

http://machinist.salon.com/

I'm likely heading down to the SC debate on Monday/Tuesday, and will be there as 'media' and attending a couple of YouTube/Google events, and then hanging out in Charleston (a great place) for another day or two. Here's the concept for the debate:

How it will actually be any different though, than a traditional debate done in a group setting is debatable. It does open up the participation to beyond being a participant that's present at the debate; but there is still a gatekeeper role being played in sorting out the submissions, and that is unlike the actual internet experience.

I would agree that "the signature moments of the campaign so far -- the moments when it crossed over from C-SPAN to popular culture -- have occurred on YouTube", or rather, online video. I find it amazing that campaigns are not spending more resources into doing online video that is beyond merely re-purposed TV ads, for online viewers. I know it's being done, but it's rare that something is done that's actually interesting. Dodd's innovative stuff inside the office is one exception.

Then again, maybe because media consultants are not usually paid for creative, but instead for placement on TV at a commission, that's an incentive not in place and holding up the adoption. It's also due to the fact that those handling media inside the campaign at the director position have never done online video before, and only the early-adopters are beginning to develop video creative specifically for the internet [Clinton's "Soprano" spot being a notable exception].

You can't really blame Lauren Turner the Google-ista who breathlessly begged HMO's to let Google help them fight back against SiCKO and block that horrific push for universal healthcare.

But you can blame Google.

"Do no evil, Google?"

Let's see how you can make your motto true...after the jump.

Cross-posted at the National Nurses Organizing Committee's Breakroom Blog, as we organize to make 2007 the Year of GUARANTEED Healthcare.