Earlier today the White House administration released an official statement about their position on the Stop Online Piracy Act (SOPA). As of right now, the hearing about SOPA in the House of Representatives has been delayed until there is a consensus on the bill. Thousands of people signed a petition against the bill, which is why the White House responded. President Obama did not indicate that he would veto the bill, but the White House administration assured that they will “not support legislation that reduces freedom of expression, increases cybersecurity risk, or undermines the dynamic, innovative global Internet.” [White House]
The White House has announced an investment today that will benefit entrepreneurs. The White House will be increasing capital and resources for entrepreneurs through the U.S. Small Business Administration by moving forward with a $1 billion Early Stage Innovation Fund, which was originally announced as part of Startup America.
President Barack Obama is campaigning for the 2012 election to serve another four years. Obama’s campaign team has joined Tumblr to tell stories, share jokes, etc. “There will be trolls among you: this we know. We ask only that you remember that we’re people—fairly nice ones—and that your mother would want you to be polite,” wrote the campaign team. [Obama's Tumblr]
Foursquare has two big announcements: the first is a site feature called Tip Lists. The second is that United States President Barack Obama has joined geosocial network Foursquare, checking in at presidential events as he tours the country. The White House blog says the President’s Foursquare profile will feature tips with “the places President Obama has visited, what he did there, plus historical information and more.” The account already has more than 12,000 followers. Mashable theorizes that this may be a watershed moment for Foursquare as people join the network to follow the President’s travels.
Steven VanRoekel is the current managing director of the FCC and was a former Microsoft Corporation (NASDAQ:MSFT) executive. VanRoekel will become the Chief Information Officer (CIO) for the federal government on Thursday where he will be responsible for the $80 billion per year IT budget.
Earlier this week Riley wrote about how The White House Twitter account had Rickrolled a Twitter user named David Wiggs. Taiwanese animation company NMA.tv made a video out of the news story. Check it out above.
Yesterday the White House rickrolled Twitter user @wiggsd in response to his complaint that “This WH correspondence briefing isn’t nearly as entertaining as yesterday’s.” The official White House Twitter calmly replied, “Sorry to hear about that. Fiscal policy is important, but can be dry sometimes. Here’s something more fun,” with a link to Rick Astley’s Never Gonna Give You Up.
The U.S. government has recently published a document entitled “International Strategy for Cyberspace.” Some of the issues in the addressed includes how the government can respond in the event of an aggressive cyberspace attack.