Obama Appoints Google's Megan Smith as Chief Technology Officer

President Obama appointed Megan Smith as the Chief Technology Officer of the US government. Smith has worked in Google for more than 10 years and is the vice president of Google X .

Before joining Google, Smith served as the CEO of the online LGBT community PlanetOut, reports Empire State Tribune.

 "Megan has spent her career leading talented teams and taking cutting-edge technology and innovation initiatives from concept to design to deployment." President Obama also added, "I am confident that in her new role as America's Chief Technology Officer, she will put her long record of leadership and exceptional skills to work on behalf of the American people," Obama said.

Obama also appointed Alexander Macgillivray as the deputy Chief Technology Officer. Macgillivray has worked as an attorney for both Twitter and Google. He is known to have taken a bold stand against governments for restricting the free flow of information online.

Obama will now have two highly respected people in the world of technology in his team.  While Smith is an engineer known for implementing incredible ideas, McGillivray has steered through many cumbersome policy matters in the internet domain.

People in the technology policy world have  reacted positively to the appointments, but some have conveyed their apprehension regarding the close bond between the White House and tech companies, reports The Washington Post.

Jeffrey Chester, executive director of the Center for Digital Democracy, in an email said that as a privacy group they were worried about Google officers continuing to work at the White House.  He said that Google has not shown a keen interest in matters of transparency and accountability or privacy protections in the online domain when individuals are facing problems in these areas. He added that Smith should make it clear whether she favors practices like these before she takes office, reports The Washington Post.