This little logo, which has suddenly cropped up on Obama’s Change.gov Transition webpage, could mean a whole lot.
Small, but powerful.
What’s it mean? It means that Change.gov’s copyright policy is now operating under Creative Commons, the same copyright policy adopted by popular sharing sites like Flickr — which, incidentally, is also where the Obama camp decided to exclusively publish its behind-the-scenes photographs from Election Night.
And not only did Change.gov take up the Internet’s preferred copyright policy, but it also adopted its most permissive policy, according to the fine folks at CC.
So what does all of this mean? It means that Barack Obama and his administration understand that the Internet is not something that can be corraled and controlled, and attempting to do so will just invite discord and willful mayhem from those they attempt to shut out. Any person who hopes to see the country’s first “Internet President” establish a healthy relationship with the Information Superhighway should be encouraged by this small, but significant, development.
If you throw in the fact that Obama has moved the weekly Presidential addresses onto YouTube, and that he’s currently wrangling with the Secret Service about finding a way for him to be able to keep his BlackBerry while in Office, you’re beginning to paint a picture of a President who really “gets” how information is treated and functions in this modern age. Now we just need to wait and see how that high-tech understanding translates into an administration.
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