September 2010 Archives

I expect to spend most of the week-end ahead drafting responses to the BIS Consultations on which I blogged a couple of days ago. The more I read the consultation papers, especially that on FE funding, the more depressed I become. "Plus ca change, plus c'est le meme chose". About five years ago the Council of what is now the Information Society Alliance (EURIM) declined to allow me to spend more time on workforce skills until I could show evidence that major employers were willing to mount the political pressure necessary to overcome the departmental inertia and vested interests that have prevented change for over twenty years.  

Among the e-mails I have recently received on "The Dark Net" and the  "Black Internet" was one from Professor John Walker. He has given me permission to reproduce it as a guest blog. My own thoughts are at the end:

"One of the major considerations for any organisation considering adoption of a Cloud, or Extended Perimeter Solution is to understand their dependencies on the Internet Backbone and to arrive at a critical conclusion which will:

a) Consider their appetite and tolerance for downtime

b) Consider their option for Mitigations, and Risk Reductions

Last week I said (in my post on the Chattanooga plans) that I thought Rory Stewart's broadband conference would prove to have been a seminal event. We can now see the tectonic plates shifting with the semi-public emergence of BT's plans to hoover up public budgets, at every level, to fund its transition to a proper Next Generation Network, capable of supporting fibre to the home (whether or not it is installed by Openreach) and the other players having to decide their game. Ian Grant's article "Fibre pioneers run into problems" is an excellent introduction to the problems that have to be addressed to short order by BIS, DCMS and Ofcom if they are to be part of the solution rather than the problem. Meanwhile the Commission has put Ofcom on notice to pull its finger out on Spectrum

On 9^th September I was tasked to organise a response from the Information Society Alliance to the BIS Consultations on: Skills for Sustainable Growth and A simplified further education and skills funding system and methodology. Both have a deadline of October 10th. I have just realised that I have seen no publicity for either and fear a re-run of the consultations we have had every couple of years for about thirty years - with responses dominated by those farming a system of state support that dates back to 1917.

The debate over ID Cards has not gone away. It will return next year, with plans for security during the Olympics (as an "extension" of the NATO agenda for identifying Goivenrment employers and contractors, including security staff and volunteers), for residents' cards (to cut the cost of delivering public services) and for EU initatives (supposedly to aid pan-Euopean inter-operability). Meanwhile those wanting us to transact on-line will wish to promote their dreams for global identities that will help them cement market share. It has therefore been suggested that I update my 2004 guide to the politics of Personal Identity to help a new generation (including politicians and those lobbying them) to understand what has changed and what has not. Here goes:

I am told that Ian Grant's excellent summary of the bidding war that took place in Penrith in Saturday tells only part of the story. You too can share the rest. My thanks to Lindsey Annison for giving me links to the video record produced by John Popham, the live blog and the film about rural fibre from Chris Conder. Lindsey also comments that the many blog posts on the conference and the 'instant' availability for everyone in almost real time "puts to shame all conference organisers who charge hundreds or thousands of pounds to attend their do and then often take months to get videos and presentations online, if at all!".

P.S. The Border Reivers had stolen anything that could be moved for hundreds of years until   James VI  of Scotland (James 1 of England) brought about peace on the borders between his two kingdoms by shipping the worst of the troublemakers to Ulster so they could create the Irish problem before going on to America to create Bourbon and bring mayhem to the Wild West.

The European Commission is about to review the Electronic Signatures Directive. The proposals will need to be looked at in the context of the NATO drive for a PKI-based common identity root - initially for government employees and contractors. We should remember that the last set of proposals to supposedly clarify the law on electronic signatures were initially bound up with back doors for surveillance by the security services and tied to RIPA. What is it that is needed that is not covered by the UNCITRAL model law on Electronic Commerce, including its provisions on electronic signatures?

Yesterday I blogged on the Chattanooge Gig to the home for smart metering, grid and domestic broadband. Today the BBC carries news of a contest between carrier pigeon and UK rural broadband for an uploaded file. I have just done a quick calculation and it looks as thought the carrier pigeon would also beat almost all UK urban broadband upload services, including those which offer "up to 20 mbps" for download.

On Monday I heard that some of the Broadband Delivery UK team still do not think users need more than 2 mbps and wish to quietly slip the deadline for even this from 2012 to 2015. Meanwhile there is an expectation of separate multi-billion pound networks for smart grids and metering. Yesterday I learned that Chattanooga  plans to deliver both, plus a gigabit  to the home - and finally received a promise that an engineer will call tomorrow to find out why my supposed 7 mbps line runs at only 1.6.

One of the first tasks under the Cabinet Office "Structural Reform Plan"  was the creation of a new Cabinet Office "Efficiency and Reform Group" which would overhaul procurement. There is a presumption in some quarters that this will lead to a new and more centralised regim. Is that the correct approach? As you will have gathered from opening of my previous blog, I am equally unconvinced by the enthusiams of "the Network for teh post-Bureaucratic Age". 

I fear months of intellectual masturbation involving the procurement "experts" and "consultants" who have made good livings and reputations from creating the current and previous swamps. Meanwhile irreparable damage will be done to the supply side. Would it not be better to adopt a process of natural selection: kill off those processes which do not give value for money, encourage the use of those which do and allow for the emergence of new and better processes over time?