Barack Obama calls on digital media to find ways to help people re-engage with democracy
President Barack Obama has challenged tech entrepreneurs and digital media practitioners to work with government to solve issues facing society today.
President Barack Obama gave a keynote talk at SXSW
The call came as part of an on-stage interview at the SXSW festival in Austin, Texas, where President Obama told the audience: “The reason I’m here really is to recruit all of you.
“It is to say to you as I’m about to leave office – how can we start coming up with new platforms, new ideas, new approaches… to solve some of the big problems we are facing today.”
Turning to digital media he urged the audience to think of ways in which news and other outlets could get people more engaged in the democratic process.
“We cannot solve the problems in government or society unless we the people are paying attention,” he said.
“In an age where people are getting their information through the internet and attention spans have shrunk it’s important that you the people who shape this space are thinking about it. There’s a way for you to shape this democracy in a way that has not been seen for a very long time.”
Asked about the Apple case with the tech firm currently refusing to hack into the iPhone of one of the people behind the San Bernadino shootings, the President cautioned people on taking an “absolutist view” of breaking encryption versus people’s freedom.
He said: “Before smartphones were invented and to this day if there’s probable cause to think you’re guilty of a serious crime, law enforcement can appear at your home and go through your things to see if there’s any evidence of wrongdoing.
“And we agree on that because we realise there are measures that need to be taken to make us safe and secure.”
He pointed to the Snowden revelations as having damaged people’s perceptions of the government and how much of their data the government was handling, and insisted it was overstated.
President Obama was interviewed by Texas Tribune founder Evan Smith
“I am of the view that there are very real reasons that we need to make sure that the government cannot just willy-nilly go into everyone’s iPhones,” he added.
“I am way on the civil liberties side of this thing. I anguish a lot about the decisions we make when it comes to keeping this country safe. But the dangers are real, maintaining law and order and a civilised society is important.
“I would caution against taking an absolutist view on this.”
Alex Hayes in Austin
Obama is so woefully out of touch. His predictable wind-bag generalisations, signifying nothing, and achieving nothing, other than to pump-up his narcissistic self gratification. Along with Nixon and Carter, he will not be missed.
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Thanks Mike. Your political prognostications represent probably the best chance of salvation for the western world.
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If there is one area ripe for disruption it’s politics.
We are about to spend $500million on a plebiscite on gay marriage. You could do that online for $500,000 That money should be going to CSIRO to keep jobs, or hospitals or…
If we lived in a real democracy where everyone had equal say and governments were representing the people then most of this lot of politicians would never be voted for. As long as wealthy individuals and corporations control the media and/or make donations to Labor and LNP in order to secure support for their businesses objectives we will never have a true democracy.
Disrupting Democracy means
1: Everyone’s voice carries equal weight. One wealthy Billionaire can’t shout so loud across all media channels and drown out the voices of an entire nation.
2: End donations to political parties, make it a criminal offense, because that’s what it is after all, bribery.
3: Grass roots – We should all get to vote on individual issues like gay marriage and sending kids to detention centres. We don’t need politicians to decide for us, if we have good and balanced information.
4…..
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