OVERNIGHT TECH: Genachowski to announce broadband adoption task force

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Facebook quote:“Joe’s arrival brings new skills and greater depth to our incredibly busy team,” said Elliot Schrage, vice president of global communications, marketing and public policy at Facebook. 

Lockhart is currently the founding partner and managing director of the Glover Park Group, a Washington-based communications firm. He will join Facebook July 15 and start off splitting time between D.C. and California before eventually moving to the West Coast full-time. 

He is the latest high-profile Washington insider to join the social networking giant, which has drawn increasing scrutiny from lawmakers ahead of the upcoming debate on consumer privacy legislation. He will manage the corporate, policy and international communications teams.

Breach of Senate.gov fuels concerns about House’s use of Skype: Security concerns remain over the House’s adoption of the Internet phone service Skype, particularly in light of last weekend’s hacking of the Senate’s computer system. “There’s a concern about having items broadcast that may be classified in nature,” said Rep. Jason Chaffetz (R-Utah), who was tasked in March with heading a new House technology working group.

BACKDROP: House rules have prohibited Skype as a potential threat to the security of the chamber’s networks. But members have been requesting use of the popular video and phone service for more than a year. 

Examining the Pandora IPO: The Wall Street Journal homes in, “Interactive Internet radio company Pandora Media Inc. continued the trend of hot Internet-related IPOs by pricing its shares at $16 apiece Tuesday night, above expectations. Pandora’s IPO pricing continues the strong run for Internet companies. Above, the Pandora music application is seen on an Apple iPhone. The company sold 14.7 million initial public offering shares at a level that topped a boosted price range of $10 to $12. The company last week increased the number of shares sold by 1 million and the price range by $3 in the face of strong investor demand.” 

Experts say better spending data is the key to transparency: Improving the quality of publicly available federal spending data is vital to government transparency, according to experts at a House Oversight Committee hearing on Tuesday. Witnesses argued publishing accurate government spending data online where it can be freely accessed and reused by members of the public is the true meaning of transparency in the digital age.

Sunlight: “Information cannot be considered public if it is available only inside a government building, during limited hours or for a fee,” said Sunlight Foundation executive director Ellen Miller in her prepared remarks.