When IT Meets Politics

Recession is a time to catch up on maintenance and training. Slump is a time for radical change in order to survive. That means you will need a very different skills mix when recovery comes. But so will everyone else. You will go down in the competition for the new skills. The same is true for UK plc. Part of the national recovery package should be a short order "tax free training" programme to use the opportunity to reskill the existing UK workforce for the 21st century.

Continue reading "Bringing forward the recovery: 2) Tax Free Training." »

Reviews and postponements of big public sector ICT projects are politically popular but are now hitting industry cash flows hard. When spend restarts ministers will almost certainly wish to follow private sector good practice with incremental, rapid payback projects within strategic frameworks. You can help shorten the transition period.

Continue reading "How can you help shorten the slump? 1) Smarter Public Procurement" »

Continue reading "European ISP gives lifeline to spammers and botnet herders" »

Continue reading "Washington Post slashes US spam after Internet Community fails" »

Continue reading "Who do you trust - on-line or off? " »

How much difference did the Internet really make to the US election?  And how much of what they did would be illegal in the UK? - for example the massive, but also untraceable, donations to campaign funds raised over the Internet.

Continue reading "It was the Internet wot wun it : lessons from the US election" »

The shut down of the Government Gateway after an apparent compromise may influence your response to the NHS consultation on other uses of oatient data, on which I blogged on Friday. It should not. There is whole array of privacy enhancing technologies that can be used to prevent such failures. The problem is not hardware or software. "Its the wetware stupid".

Continue reading "Do Digital Diapers Deter Data Diarrhoea?" »

A strong response to the consultation on the "Additional Uses of Patient Data" (e.g. to help planning, research, audit etc) could change the nature of UK debate on data protection and information security . Respond as a patient. Ensure responses from all organisations with which you are involved. Get them to distribute to their employers and members to also reply as patients.

Continue reading "Stop whinging and respond to the consultation on "Additional Uses of Patient Data"" »

Continue reading "Does e-participation lead to e-democracy or e-dictatorship?" »

Continue reading "Data incontinence needs potty training not just e-nappies" »