GSA Signs “Landmark Agreement” with New Media Sites
The General Services Administration recently announced that many legal boundaries that once prevented federal agencies from using new media have now been resolved with several Web 2.0 sites, clearing the path for a more social government. The GSA said this was done to answer the President’s call for greater citizen involvement in government and in acknowledgment of the new “method of choice” for Internet users in how they obtain their information.
The six-month process, spearheaded by a “coalition of agencies,” negotiated new terms of service with popular new media sites that removed problems related to “liability limits, endorsements, freedom of information, and governing law.” Platforms that have signed on to the new terms are Flickr, YouTube, Vimeo and blip.tv, and the list is expected to grow. MSNBC reports that similar agreements are already in the works with Facebook, MySpace and Ning.com. The GSA said Twitter’s original terms of service were already acceptable for use by the government.
“We’re exploring any avenue that we think is a valid way to convey government information to the public, and those are the sites that the public seem to be flocking to,” said Teresa Nasif, deputy associate administrator of the Office of Citizen Services and Communications, in an interview with the network.
Now that many roadblocks have been removed, the real test of Government 2.0 now lies with how agencies will take advantage of a new world of possibilities — not just for the sake of using Web 2.0, but employing it in such a way to enhance and extend their work. There is good indication that the future is bright, and that agencies are anxious to use the new platforms.
Nasif pointed to several examples of agencies already moving in the new media direction (which required special waivers before the new agreements), including the Centers for Disease Control, which recently tweeted about a peanut butter recall, and disseminated similar information through Facebook. The Library of Congress on Flickr is another example. “Not everyone is going to go to the Library of Congress Web site, but millions of people are going to Flickr,” Nasif said. Photos on the site have over 15 millions views to date.
Here are some specifics to the new terms, according to the GSA:
- Indemnification and limited liability: In negotiating the various agreements, we’ve been seeking to remove the indemnification clause (because agency officials cannot agree to tie their agency to unlimited liability in violation of the Anti-Deficiency Act), and to ensure that liability is limited and covered by federal law.
- Jurisdiction and choice of law: The proposed agreements must be governed by the law of the United States and by the relevant state law only in the absence of other federal law.
- FOIA: The proposed agreements recognize that we adhere to the Freedom of Information Act.
- Intellectual property: The proposed agreements recognize that our content is in the public domain.
- Advertising: Providers have assured that they will eliminate or minimize advertising and that they have no intention of adding advertising that they do not currently display. On YouTube, for example, they plan to remove the “Promoted Videos” module on playback pages.
- Grandfather arrangements: In the case of YouTube, previous “click through” agreements will be superseded by new agreements, making it possible to “cover” existing accounts, avoiding the need to close old accounts and rebuild content from scratch.
- Free service: In every case so far, providers will not charge federal account holders for the use of their services. These are not contracts; they are no-cost agreements. While fee-based “premium” services may be available from the same provider, those are separate arrangements for which the agency should proceed under traditional “procurement” processes.
