October 2009 Archives

On Wednesday I was a guest at a conference which brought together delegates from Central Government departments and their would-be suppliers to discuss Identity and Information issues. There was a common assumption among the delegates that it was a self evident truth that we all need coherent electronic identities within frameworks regulated by government

I enjoyed Government 2010 on Thursday despite the tunnel vision of enthusiasts who believe the Internet changes everything but will nonetheless be much the same in 2015 as it is today. That may, unfortunately, be true in the UK where the Digital Britain vision is still only for one-way video-streaming rather than the "competing inter-active, broadcast quality video networks to the home" that was the vision of the last Government for 2002.

Is it because most of the closed community which controls the Internet wish to avoid taking responsibility for their actions/inaction by pretending it is an immature but precocious child?

Why does each generation of technology devotees feel compelled to repeat the mistakes of the last one - like teenagers discovering sex?

Several players want to brief MPs and candidates on Cloud Computing. Why should politicians be interrested? Is it any more than the global data centres of Google and IBM and Microsoft outflanking those of EDS and Fujitsu? Who is willing to address the political issues of responsibility for resilience and content and liability for service failure or abuse? 

The Information Society Alliance (EURIM) Policy Dragons Den in Manchester was the only one to proceed to a vote. Under the crisp chairmanship of Kemi Adegoke (Candidate for Dulwich and West Norword) there was some distressingly well informed roasting of the IT industry's track record of delivery and a lively argument over the desirability and practicality of cleaning up (alias censoring) the Internet, The twelve parliamentary candidates on the panel then gave clear priority to removing the barriers to enterprise and job creation.

In 1995, during the run up to the Atlanta Olympics, I attended a meeting at which security and protection against malpractice were identified as central to the future of the Internet. That scare was premature. Now we are being told that organised crime has finally caught up with the opportunities on offer and time has run out. Is that any more true?

The Labour Candidates at the EURIM Dragons Den in Brighton shared many concerns with the LibDem Dragons in Bournemouth but we also discussed the need for industry, both suppliers and users, to help organise briefing events, material and other support for those involved in local broadband access campaigns.