The White House is creating a new senior adviser position to focus on internet and privacy policy. The leading contender for the job is Nicole Wong, a lawyer known for her work at Google and Twitter, according to a source familiar with the situation.

Ms Wong, currently legal director at Twitter, could not be reached for comment. The new adviser will work with federal chief technology officer Todd Park, and will join the White House as Mr Obama focuses more attention and resources on fighting hackers.

Congress and the White House have been arguing about how best to address cybersecurity for more than a year.

Last month, the House of Representatives passed a new cybersecurity bill which will next be considered by the US Senate. It is designed to help companies and the US government share information on cyber threats, though concerns linger about the amount of protection it offers for private information.

Ms Wong has testified before Congress about her concerns about internet censorship in countries around the world.

In 2010, when she was Google’s vice-president and deputy general counsel, she told a Senate judiciary committee hearing that the US government should make internet freedom a key part of foreign policy.

At Google, Ms Wong was nicknamed "the Decider", author and law professor Jeffrey Rosen has written, because part of her job was deciding whether to remove content from YouTube and links from Google that governments objected to. – ( Reuters )