APPOINTMENTS

Thursday, December 11, 2008 4:27 PM

Craigslist Founder: Next Tech Czar Must 'Crack The Whip'

By DAVID HERBERT

(Credit: Justin Sullivan/Getty Images)

Craig Newmark, the founder of classifieds giant craigslist, has some advice for President-elect Barack Obama as he searches for a chief technology officer: Find someone who can foster public-private sector partnerships and "crack the whip" to bring about necessary reforms in tech policy.

"The government isn't ready in some respects to use these new technologies," Newmark said. "When it comes to computer technology, there are some really smart people who can do something in a month that it would take the government a year to do."

Pushing a national broadband strategy and overhauling the government's information technology infrastructure should be near the top of any tech czar's to-do list, Newmark argued. And, given the array of technological challenges facing the next administration, Newmark recommended the president-elect keep his campaign pledge to elevate the position to a Cabinet-level post.

So would Newmark leave craigslist and San Francisco for the Beltway if Obama came calling? Not likely.

"I have a job -- it's customer service -- and I'll be doing that for a long time," he said. "Washington is too humid. You can quote me on that."