The government must take a page from the technology industry by learning how to measure the effectiveness of its programs, according to tech evangelist and O'Reilly Media founder Tim O'Reilly.

As a well-known digital publisher and organizer of events like the Gov 2.0 Summit, O'Reilly is a key figure in the movement to increase the federal government's use of technology to engage the public. But, he argues, the focus on getting agencies to join Twitter and Facebook is misplaced.

"There's lots of focus on social media and outreach, but that's the easy stuff. The stuff that's hard that's been really transformative for industry is to create real-time feedback loops using data," O'Reilly said during a conversation Wednesday with Hillicon Valley.

He pointed to Walmart, where inventory is automatically updated when a customer purchases something at the check-out counter. O'Reilly said Walmart and other companies like it have managed to create a central nervous system using technology that constantly tracks how they are performing. He contrasted that with government, which is heavily reliant on a top-down approach but lacks feedback from end users.

"Government programs have no feedback loops to judge their effectiveness. Things are cast in concrete before we know whether they are going to work or not," he said. As an example, he cited the Head Start program for low-income children at the Department of Health and Human Services.

"If Head Start were a startup it would be out of business. It doesn't work," O'Reilly said.

German officials are considering a law that would ban companies from viewing an applicant's Facebook profile when deciding whether to hire him or her.

Interior Minister Thomas de Maizière told reporters the draft legislation would allow employers to search for applicants using Google or view their profiles on professional social networking sites like LinkedIn, but draws the line at socially oriented sites like Facebook. The law was approved by the German cabinet on Wednesday and will now proceed to Parliament for discussion.

The bill also bans companies from videotaping employees in "personal" locations such as restrooms, changing rooms and break rooms and puts strict limits on when companies can monitor employee phone calls and e-mails. The law is partly a reaction to a series of employee privacy scandals at German firms in recent years involving the retail chain Lidl, the national railway Deutsche Bahn and the telecom giant Deutsche Telekom.

A coalition of liberal groups, media organizations and youth-focused nonprofits is launching a Web campaign aimed at boosting turnout among young voters ahead of the fall midterm elections.

The groups, which include HeadCount, HuffPost College, Rock the Vote and Sierra Club are hoping to build on the record turnout among voters below the age of 26 during the 2008 presidential election. The effort is centered around a website designed to drive traffic to member organizations' websites. Visitors can also submit a video explaining why it's important to vote; the entry with the most votes will receive a $5,000 prize.

“One of the greatest challenges in an off-year election is simply raising awareness,” said Biko Baker, executive director of the League of Young Voters. “The Vote Again video contest and the site at large seek to provide young people with opportunities to get involved both on the Web and on the ground.”

"I think the biggest threat to the Internet ecosystem 10 years from now is a lack of spectrum to be put on the market five years from now."

— Blair Levin in a panel discussion this week. The former FCC official directed the creation of the National Broadband Plan. He cited as one solution a proposal in the National Broadband Plan: spectrum auctions, which provide incentives to broadcasters to relinquish spectrum for uses such as mobile broadband.

Google unveiled a new feature on Wednesday that will allow people to use their Gmail accounts to make phone calls. 

"What if you’re in a place with poor cell phone reception, or you’re travelling internationally and don’t want to incur expensive roaming charges? Wouldn’t it be great if you could use your computer to make or receive calls?" Nick Foster, a software engineer, wrote on the company's blog.

Users must have Google Voice accounts to take advantage of the Gmail feature, which provides that same service in a new place. 

The Parents Television Council is accusing the Federal Communications Commission of shirking its duty to aggressively defend federal broadcast decency laws.

“It seems the FCC is taking a vacation from its Congressionally-mandated duty to protect children by defending and enforcing the broadcast decency law," the council's director of public policy, Dan Isett, said in a statement Tuesday.  

"Parents will not stand idly by while the FCC abdicates its responsibility,” Isett said. 

The council's statement came in response to a brief filed by the Federal Communications Commission Monday with the Second Circuit Court of Appeals regarding a $1.4 million fine leveled against 52 ABC affiliates for airing an episode of "NYPD Blue" in 2003 that depicted nudity. 

In July, the same court struck down the FCC's indecency policy in a separate case over fleeting expletives during a music awards show on Fox. The court ruled the policy was unconstitutional.

WikiLeaks released a CIA policy paper on Wednesday afternoon.

Firing up liberal voters is not a valid reason for adopting net neutrality regulations, Randolph May argued in a blog post on Tuesday.

May, the president of the free market think tank Free State Foundation, said getting Democrats excited is "decidedly not a proper reason for the FCC to scuttle or short-circuit the negotiations that are now taking place" among industry stakeholders on net neutrality.

Major broadband providers such as AT&T and Verizon are conducting talks this month at the Information Technology Industry Council (ITI) to see if they can come to an agreement on net-neutrality rules. Other companies in the talks include Skype and Microsoft. 

Blair Levin, who directed the creation of the National Broadband Plan when he was at the Federal Communications Commission (FCC), said this week it is understandable that many Americans fail to see the broad public benefits of the Internet.

It's because the government has been slow to show them those benefits, Levin said at a Technology Policy Institute forum.

"We as a country haven't been effective at utilizing the platform for, essentially, public services," he said. 

A Pew study found this month that by a gap of 53 percent to 41 percent, Americans say they "do not believe the spread of affordable broadband should be a major government priority."

Most policymakers seem to see it differently, arguing the government at least has a role in increasing broadband adoption rates.