IAB blog

Nick Stringer

Last Friday’s Digital Britain Summit at The British Library was themed as an event to discuss the ‘plumbing’ (ie broadband infrastructure) and ‘poetry’ (ie the content) – this is Lord (Stephen) Carter’s very own analogy.  Its importance to the Government was on show for all to witness: four senior government ministers, including the Prime Minister, Gordon Brown.  He, Culture Secretary Andy Burnham and Business Secretary Lord (Peter) Mandelson all made key note speeches and the author of the Digital Britain project himself, Lord Carter, was a panelist.

The Prime Minister and his Secretaries of State all prophesised that ‘Digital Britain’ will help the UK out of recession and is vital to our global competitiveness (there was even a hint about state help in areas where the market might not reach).  So there was a lot of ‘political’ talk about the roll out of super-fast broadband where the Government has some influence, but little about where government has less influence: the content.  And – as Emily Bell rightly outlines in MediaGuardian today – this is where the Government faces a dichotomy: promoting the very innovation that is killing some of the traditional media landscape.

There was a dedicated panel session on the ‘poetry’ led by Anthony Lilley of Magic Lanterns.  The ‘twittosphere’ unanimously claimed Lilley’s speech to be the best of the day.  He talked of Digital Britain failing to consider the interests of people and participation, the very heart of web 2.0.  The panel session – including Johannes Larcher from ad-funded US video streaming services, Hulu, and Lucienne Grainge from Universal Music – thereafter discussed the problems of 'piracy' and its impact upon online content.  Its timing was perfect: only minutes earlier Pirate Bay – the aggregator file-sharing site – had been been found guilty in Sweden.  There was a lukewarm response to the Government’s idea to tackle this issue (a Digital Rights Agency) and a strong acknowledgement that such an approach must not throttle innovative new approaches – such as Hulu or Spotify – in making music and film legally available online for consumers for little or no cost.

We’re yet to know the full implications of the Pirate Bay decision.  Tackling this issue is clearly important to the future of funding content online but it would be a shame if this verdict gave weight and merit to high-handed approaches.  It may not achieve what it sets out to do and may deny businesses the opportunities to beat the 'pirates' at their own game.  As Anthony Lilley rightly said, it’s important not to forget the people who matter: internet users.  They are the drivers of the technology and the services.  We may have their interests at heart in rolling out broadband for all, but we also need their interests at heart in populating the ‘plumbing’ with the ‘poetry’.  There may even be a business opportunity…

Follow the IAB on Twitter