Post date: Dec 17, 2013 5:13:4 PM
Obama seeks to assuage concerns of American technology leaders on government surveillance programs.
WASHINGTON, D.C, UNITED STATES (RESTRICTED POOL) - U.S President Barack Obama held talks on Tuesday (December 17) with chief executives of leading American technology companies.
The talks were intended to discuss ways to improve the functioning of the website of the Affordable Care Act, popularly known as Obamacare, but it was expected the agenda would also cover concerns within the high technology community of U.S. government surveillance programs.Among the chief executive officers attending the talks were Tim Cook of Apple, Dick Costello of Twitter, Eric Schmidt of Google, and Sheryl Sandberg of Facebook. Others included Reed Hastings of Netflix, Brian Roberts of Comcast, Randall Stephenson of AT&T, and Erika Rottenberg of LinkedIn.
Prior to the meeting, Obama was overheard joking with the executives about how easily Kevin Spacey's character on the Netflix House of Cards program seemed to manipulate the legislative process in Washington.
"I wish things were that ruthlessly efficient. It's true. I was looking at Kevin Spacey. I was thinking, 'man, this guy is getting a lot of stuff done," said Obama, who has had mixed success with the Republican-led House of Representatives.