Tuesday, March 03, 2009

Google Denies that White House 'Ditched' YouTube

DATE: 03-MAR-2009

By
Chloe Albanesius
Google on Monday denied that the White House was dropping YouTube as its video provider of choice.
"One report stated that the White House had 'ditched' YouTube. That report is wrong," Steve Grove with YouTube news and politics wrote in a blog post. "The White House decision does not mean that the White House has stopped using YouTube. The White House continues to post videos to its YouTube channel, as do other agencies like the U.S. Department of Education and the State Department."
President Obama has posted several video messages to his transition Web site and whitehouse.gov via YouTube. Amidst privacy concerns over YouTube cookies, however, Obama's most recent weekly Saturday address
used an embedded player on whitehouse.gov instead of the Google-owned video site.
Google has created a special embeddable video player that does not send a cookie until someone plays the video, Grove wrote.
"The White House also informs whitehouse.gov visitors about these cookies in its privacy policy," he said.
The news comes the same day that John Brennan, assistant to the president for homeland security and counterterrorism, provided an update on his office's
60-day cyber security review.
Among the goals of that review? To "safeguard the privacy rights and civil liberties of our citizens," Brennan said in a
statement.
The government also wants to make sure its cyber-security efforts are coordinated between the executive branch, Congress, and the private sector, he said.
The review is set to be completed by April 2009, Brennan said. The team's recommendations will be presented to Obama, including an action plan to identify and prioritize further work related to cyber security.

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