Some high-tech watchdogs are worried about a relationship unveiled this week between popular video-sharing site YouTube.com and Congress. The Google-owned site launched two new platforms where people can watch videos uploaded by members of the House and Senate. The pairing was endorsed in a welcome message by House Speaker Pelosi, House Minority Leader Boehner, Senate Majority Leader Reid and Senate Minority Leader McConnell that has been viewed more than 230,000 times since Monday.
The announcement, however, is prompting questions about the propriety of lawmakers singling out a commercial Web tool. Critics also cite privacy concerns -- namely, what happens to data collected about users who view lawmakers' videos.
The project was made possible by changes to outdated House and Senate rules last year that clarified the circumstances under which members are allowed to place content on external Web sites. Steve Grove, head of YouTube's news and political content, said in a blog post that the service has "the potential to make Congress more transparent and accessible than ever before."
But the Center for Digital Democracy's Jeff Chester warned Google is "taking a lobbying tactic developed in part by C-SPAN years ago -- offer members of Congress a free service so they can be seen by the public." On his Web site, he warned that such an "electronic or digital campaign contribution helps insure that Congress will think twice about biting -- or regulating -- the video hand that feeds [it]."
Chester and other critics are asking whether Google will be able to incorporate data gathered about those who watch the videos for its growing political online advertising business -- and whether Congress should be endorsing a for-profit enterprise as a principal access point for official government content. Chester also suggested the YouTube union might create a conflict of interest for those charged with regulating Google and other Internet firms. The company came under fire on Capitol Hill in 2008 for its plan to partner with rival Yahoo on an advertising venture. The proposal, which was also the subject of a Justice Department probe, was eventually shelved. Google executives have been grilled by lawmakers on other topics, including behavioral targeting and consumer privacy, and have lobbied on issues like what should be done with spectrum freed up by the upcoming nationwide digital television transition.
Congressional aides familiar with the deal said there was no monetary agreement involved and there is strict separation between official and campaign content on the YouTube channels, just like there is between member's official and campaign Web sites. The rule of thumb, one aide said, is members can use YouTube, Facebook, Twitter and other services as long as they think of them as extensions of their official Senate sites and not post materials deemed inappropriate for government Web sites. YouTube's arrangement was "an extraordinary accomplishment" because it managed to make a platform that generates money for Google and advertisers but seem like a "free, public utility," an official with another major high-tech company said.
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