Search results matching tag 'Politics'

Real change or empty rhetoric?

2175094 — Fri, 24 Jul 2009 11:35:00 GMT

Earlier this week Prime Minister Gordon Brown delivered an interesting speech to the Technology, Entertainment and Design (TED) conference in Oxford. He talked of the power of today’s technology in organising and uniting communities around the world on particular issues, such as climate change, the financial crisis or matters of foreign policy, and said that this citizen empowerment meant that we could create a “truly global society”, that foreign policy “can never be the same again” and could “no longer be run by elites”.

It was a powerful speech with some welcome words. It wasn’t really picked up by traditional media but the world of Twitter (NB Brown's wife, Sarah, has over 440,000 followers) was alive with praise. There was also much skepticism, including from within the audience he spoke to. Did he really mean it? How would he balance this ‘global citizenship’ with the national interest? He is of course right about the empowering nature of the internet and digital communications which bridges national boundaries, people and cultures. 10 Downing Street is participating in Bebo’s Big Think to encourage users to inform our politicians about ideas for the future.

But it’s not the first time the Prime Minister has spoken about technology changing foreign policy forever. Gordon Brown is right that global injustices and events are prevalent in our living rooms within seconds of them occurring (the best recent example being Iran). But this ‘global citizenship’ he speaks of is a bottom-up approach. Foreign policy – and indeed much of global policy – is governed by structures and systems that are inherently top-down. Our representative democracy was built upon it. Brown admitted this by suggesting that we can’t deal with environmental problems through existing institutions and that the likes of the United Nations are now out of date in dealing with foreign policy. It remains to be seen what he would advocate instead or whether this is just empty rhetoric as we move towards a General Election next year. However, his proposed ‘constitutional changes’ to Parliament as a result of the MP expense debacle shouldn't necessarily fill us with a whole lot of confidence.

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Collaborative Individualism Emerges At Reboot Britain

2292853 — Wed, 08 Jul 2009 08:32:00 GMT

This week's NESTA sponsored Reboot Britain conference brought together a mix of government, business, banks, technology, media people from the UK, and visitors from the USA that saw left leaning Labour/Liberal Democrat political views engage and collaborate with conservative Tory representatives. The crowd's reaction saw the many of those who are normally distrustful of government, financial institutions and conservative politics try to mingle more with what they historically view as the "other side" of the spectrum.

Opening remarks from conservative Jeremy Hunt MP, Shadow Secretary of State for Culture Media and Sport, had him lovingly embrace the Internet, new technology and the governments increasing integration of it into public services. He praised the transformative nature of new technology's impact in delivering high quality factual content to the world from ordinary citizens, with Wikipedia, and talked about a new effort to publish and provide archives of government documents online for access to all. Hunt said that politics has been stuck in a rut toward progress, with its stance to first fight online, then ignore it, and only now begin to embrace it. People have flipped politics on its head by rushing online to express views and grassroots organizse around issues in powerful ways that have not beeen witnessed before, making for the emergence of a new movement composed of "collaborative individualism."

"Huge change is possible with the Internet and the Internet also makes possible some very unpleasant things," he said. "The Internet is a powerful way to connect voters and as a politician I have to engage more intelligently with my constituents."

Hunt's speech received mixed reaction and a bix of cheeky tweet banter from a crowd of professionals who live on the bleeding edge of the technological world, think liberally and radically, and often wonder why the conservatives, and the government, with its recent release of the Digital Britain report, have taken so long to embrace new technology that the left and leaders like Al Gore have been pushing the agenda toward for years. Now, it seems, the people have collectively forced politics to adapt or be left behind.

Visiting Reboot Britain was a digital celebrity group of Americans called the Travelling Geeks, who mingled with the guests and presented panel sessions throughout the day, including Craig Newmark, the nerd who many people feel changed the world with Craigslist.org.

"The Internet makes public service people feel they can come out of the darkness, and feel liberated and my hidden agenda is helping people in government affect change, and talk, and accelerate collaboration across the Atlantic," he said. On the good side, most people want to be a positive influence, and on the evil side, noisy, idiotic spammers and trolls with extremist views pollute the channels of communication and need moderation to combat this ugly side.

To combat the ugly side of the Internet, people need a friendly "nudge" to do good, and regulations toward social media use among public service employees needs to be relaxed so that they can feel safe freely expressing views and using the tools to improve things, citing the example of Newmark's favourite project FixMyStreet.

I caught up with Newmark after his talk, and you can listen to his commentary here on this Audioboo.

Pock marking the day was an insulting and demeaning panel presentation asking "Is the Web Female?" that attracted a majority of female attendants, only to sucker-punch them with horrible commentary from two of the American panelists who behaved like the scary, exclusionary popular girls in a Beverly Hills 90210 high school class. While lifestreamer Megan Asha and technology journalist Sarah Lacy may be respected digital influencers in US circles they did themselves, nor the women in the audience, any favours by describing how women behave online as being "catty, gossipy" and wanting to shop a lot. The comments provoked anger among the audience:

"Disappointed is the web female session seemingly stymied by pointless focus on imaginary gender characteristics. A waste." tweeted @josiefraser

"A few minutes of listening to 'is the web female' debate and you lose the will to live." tweeted @hollandshurst.

"Finally giving up on 'Is the Web Female', which is relying on a narrow, depressing & slightly weird definition of "female" tweeted @justinpickard

Panelist Joanne Jacobs balanced out the nasty catty female debate by smashing stereotype demographics and openly confessing that she often gender-switches online to allow herself more freedom with masculine-style expression. MT Rainey brought home the concept that the web is neither male or female but simply a place where humanity gathers.

The day's closing address saw Howard Reingold outline ways to improve digital inclusion with digital literacy, and more activism.

"Boring blogs and Twitter accounts show that participating just isn't good enough, being an active citizen is a start but from passive consumption you have to move toward participation," he said. Reingold called for the end of crap content, miss-information, spam, porn spam and helping more people develop their own "crap detectors."

Master of ceremonies for the day was Policy Unplugged's Steve Moore who remarked at closing that he was thrilled to watch #rebootbritain trending above the dominant topic King of Pop Michael Jackson's death on Twitter.

Feeling gossipy, catty and like shopping so guess I should get online and surf the Web today,

-Lisa

A BBC licence fee for a digital age?

2175094 — Tue, 16 Jun 2009 17:10:00 GMT

The Government – pioneered by the departing Communications Minister, Lord Carter – today unveiled its final Digital Britain report.

There is welcome acknowledgement of the contribution digital advertising – in particular targeted advertising - will make in helping to monetise online content. The Government also attaches significant importance to self-regulation and education in promoting transparency and protecting internet users’ online privacy, supporting the IAB’s Good Practice Principles for behavioural advertising, as well as www.youronlinechoices.co.uk, the new portal to help educate users. There is also encouraging news in the appointment of Martha Lane-Fox, one of the pioneers of digital commerce, as the Government’s digital inclusion champion.

But all eyes are on two specific proposals contained in the 238 page report which will alter the digital landscape in the years to come:

1. A 50 pence per month levy on all fixed copper and cable lines (but not mobile infrastructure) from 2010 to fund the rollout of next generation broadband. According to Lord Carter that’s £6 per year per household, although low income households would be exempt. The fund would raise between £150-175m a year, allowing next generation rollout to be complete by 2017, a timescale specifically criticised by the Conservative Culture Spokesperson, Jeremy Hunt.

2. Ring-fencing the BBC’s underspend for the so-called Digital Switchover Help Scheme (ie money the BBC receives to help vulnerable people switch to digital TV services - over and above its existing licence fee settlement) to help finance the delivery of regional news, other than that provided by the BBC. This ‘Contained Contestable Element of the Licence Fee’ idea is not the so-called ‘top-slicing (to you and me that’s ‘sharing out’) of the BBC’s licence fee, as has been widely reported in the media.

Significantly, this second proposal fires the starting gun of the licence fee review (due in 2013) and the beginning of a wider discussion about how the BBC’s licence fee should apply (and in what form) in a digital age (eg we don’t pay the licence fee to access the BBC’s website or the iPlayer). The report moots maintaining a ‘Contained Contestable Element’ of the licence fee after 2013 and, in his briefing to industry this afternoon, Carter did not rule out this money being used for (non-BBC) children’s content and programming.

If there is to be a lasting legacy of this report then this is it. The Government has effectively sounded the death knell on the BBC’s licence fee as we know it today and kicked-off the debate about how we fund public service content in a digital age.

Follow the IAB on Twitter.

Transparency, choice and education is the way forward for online privacy

2175094 — Fri, 29 May 2009 15:20:00 GMT

A parliamentary body of MPs and Peers – the All Party Parliamentary Group on Communications – is to conduct an inquiry into internet traffic, including behavioural advertising and online privacy. The Group asks whether the Government should intervene over behavioural advertising or whether it should leave it to users, Internet Service Providers (ISPs) and websites. The Group also asks whether there is a need for any new initiative to deal with online privacy. The Group has sought ‘written evidence’ from interested parties and will be meeting with key stakeholders in mid-June.

The IAB has submitted a response to the Group specifically addressing these two questions. You can read a copy of our response here. Our response provides the Group with an introduction to behavioural advertising, how it works, how it differs to contextual and demographic online advertising, the different business models and the benefits to internet users, content producers and publishers, and advertisers.

The IAB’s response argues that transparency, choice and education is the way forward for online privacy. Its four key points are:

1. Government intervention over behavioural advertising services is not necessary at this time. The current legal framework is sound and efforts should focus on transparency of what data are used and how and on securing user trust.

2. The parliamentary group should encourage self-regulatory initiatives to address privacy concerns relating behavioural advertising, in particular the IAB’s Good Practice Principles which seek to build greater transparency and user trust.

3. The UK Government should press for amendments to the Council of Europe’s draft Recommendation on ‘Profiling’ that seeks to extend the current EU data protection legal framework in areas such behavioural advertising, so that industry can have legal certainty and recommendations are not damaging to business.

4. The Group should welcome and support ongoing self-regulatory and educational efforts, rather than recommending a new approach or initiative on online privacy.

The IAB will be hoping to provide ‘oral evidence’ to the Group next month. A final report is expected in the autumn.

Follow the IAB on Twitter.

Election 2010: The Digital Media Battle

2175094 — Wed, 06 May 2009 20:15:00 GMT

We should all welcome Prime Minister Gordon Brown’s return to YouTube this week. He was criticised by Cabinet colleagues (aka our ‘Communities’ Minister, Hazel Blears) and widely ridiculed by the media for his ‘MP expenses’ video late last month. But Brown knows only too well that we now live in a world of 24/7 digital media and he needs to use these tools to get his message across directly to the British people (he’s doing something right - apparently the 10 Downing Street twitter site is the UK’s most favourite). Of course, Parliament is the hub of our democracy and policy statements should be made first in the ‘chamber’ (but few people watch or listen to proceedings). Door-to-door campaigning is very personal but it is also time-consuming and effective on a one-to-one basis. So, as the political fighting (and in-fighting) intensifies in the run up to the European and local elections next month, another ‘war’ is beginning to emerge: the politics of digital media.

The truth of the matter is that the Labour Party (the party of government) hasn’t quite grasped the concept of social media: it is in ‘catch up’ mode. This is because it has been the party of power for over a decade and is restricted by the limitations of the civil service which has yet to truely embrace the enabling power of the internet. It is trying though with the appointment of a Digital Tsar – although bizarrely this was widely criticised. It also has difficulty coping with a media where the ‘message’ cannot always be controlled. However, there are many examples of Labour MPs and other elected representatives who are embracing the media as a way to engage and interact directly with their constituents. Many now have blogs, twitter feeds, Facebook pages etc. However, the Conservative Party has stolen a march in this area, using social media more effectively as a campaigning tool. David Cameron has used webcameron from day one of his leadership. The number of Conservative-leaning blogs (such as Iain Dale or ConservativeHome far outweigh those of the political Left, although there is LabourList but even this is experiencing troubles). The Conservative blogs are also not afraid to criticise the party’s leadership (although remain broadly loyal). The Conservatives also had the ingenious idea of buying key ‘budget’ search words directing people to the Party's website during live coverage of the Chancellor’s statement . This is a new step in political battle to get your attention.

The politics of digital media is set to become one of the largest battlegrounds in the next UK General Election (odds on May 2010?) as campaigning evolves from television and newspapers to social networking sites and other ‘direct’ and participative approaches. We’ve all heard about Barack Obama’s use of social media during last year’s US Presidential Elections. He’s set the standard. Let’s now see how British political parties overcome the restrictions on party election broadcasting to get their message over to you and me directly on your PC, iPod or mobile.

Follow the IAB on Twitter.

Plumbing, poetry, pirates and…people?

2175094 — Mon, 20 Apr 2009 12:30:00 GMT

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

Digital Britain…kindly brought to you by advertising (part 2)

2175094 — Thu, 09 Apr 2009 15:30:00 GMT

Over the last few months I’ve written a number of blogs about the Digital Britain project, the Government’s blueprint for the UK’s digital economy. This kicked off last November with a blog arguing that the internet will help the UK economy out of its current recession, followed in late January with the first in the series of ‘Digital Britain…kindly brought to you by advertising’ blogs (this is the second!) which highlighted the Government’s underplaying of the role and value of advertising to the digital economy in its interim report. In late February, I talked of the ‘green shoots of opportunity’ and the Government’s failure - in its interim report - to recognise the UK as one of the best places in the world to do ‘digital business’.

The Internet Advertising Bureau (IAB) recently submitted its response to the interim Digital Britain report calling on the Government to:

· Recognise the importance of fostering the advertising market in order to continue attracting investment from pan-European businesses in the UK.

· Acknowledge the importance of new advertising techniques (such as behavioural advertising) in building strong revenue streams for digital media.

· Support a market structure allowing new entrants to easily develop ad-supported business models rather than create high barriers to new entry.

· Clarify the significant body of self-regulation and good practice already in existence and commit to intervene only when it will deliver enhanced outcomes for consumers.

· Acknowledge the value of novel self-regulatory schemes, such as the recently published IAB Good Practice Principles for behavioural advertising, and offer support for these schemes to encourage other players to make similar commitments.

The final Digital Britain report is expected in the summer (although speculation has mounted that it might come earlier - ambitious!). Whilst I acknowledge the importance of Lord Carter’s ‘top five goals’ (universal connectivity, faster broadband, spectrum liberalisation, resolving the online piracy issue and the role of public service broadcasting/publishing in a digital age), we hope that the Government will also examine the wider digital economy (not just infrastructure issues - 11 of the 22 action items in the interim report) as it would surely be a strategic error to create the circumstances for universal broadband connectivity without fully acknowledging the role advertising plays in supporting the vast majority of the content, services and applications delivered to consumers via broadband.

We’ll get a better idea at the Digital Britain summit in London next week (but where are the new media speakers?). Look out for the IAB Twitter feed providing you with the latest!

Follow the IAB on Twitter

The green shoots of opportunity

2175094 — Fri, 20 Feb 2009 12:45:00 GMT

Government ministers have, in the past, got into hot water for merely mentioning the words ‘green shoots’ when times are tough. We all know the UK economy is officially in recession. However, unlike Starbucks’ Howard Schultz, I won’t be talking the economy down. I fear the wrath and another four-letter outburst from business secretary, Lord Mandelson, if I did so! Times are indeed tough and every day we read and hear about another business shedding jobs. Yesterday, Bradford-based Stylo, owner of Barratts shoes, announced it was closing 220 stores and cutting 2,500 jobs.

In yesterday’s Technology Guardian, Victor Keegan, made a very good (and related) point: he said that whilst this may be the worst of times to look for a job, it is the among the best to be setting up your own business. Keegan is spot on citing that the cost of starting a web business is 10% of what it was in the dotcom boom. He doesn’t refer to the contribution advertising makes to this. Advertising on the internet already helps to fund much of the UK’s entrepreneurial and creative talent. It’s a little known fact to many that, in the last three months, Google paid £970m to publishers for adverts on their sites. Many of these will be small and emerging businesses, using the internet as platform to innovate, compete and challenge traditional businesses.

This is an argument lost on Lord Carter in his Digital Britain interim report published last month. His ‘comprehensive analysis of the digital economy’ missed it and therefore failed to acknowledge the UK as one of the best places in the world to do ‘digital business’. But Carter and his team seem primarily focused on how to pay the people that create the content we are used to reading, watching or listening but is now free on the internet. Interestingly the Canadian Radio-television and Telecommunications Commission (CRTC) has just begun hearings on this issue and one of the suggestions put forward is a tax or levy on internet use to finance domestically produced new media. This kind of approach would be regressive. The Digital Britain report was big on bridging the ‘digital divide’ – ensuring that everyone can get broadband by 2012. Let’s not artificially create another digital divide which would disrupt an already successful approach, particularly in tough times. An internet tax here would not only mean that the UK would lose its status as Europe’s leading digital hub, but – more importantly – it would deny people from using the internet to ‘get on the ladder’ and build competitive businesses. Remember: we’re in a recession. We need the green shoots of opportunity.

Digital Britain...kindly brought to you by advertising

2175094 — Thu, 29 Jan 2009 18:26:00 GMT

Communications and Technology Minister, Stephen Carter, today finally published his eagerly awaited Digital Britain interim report. The ‘talk’ and speculation in the run-up to publication had been about the BBC and public service broadcasting/publishing and ‘broadband for all’. Would the Government suggest a collaboration between the commercial BBC Worldwide and cash-strapped Channel 4? (it does but doesn’t rule out other options) and will there be high-level commitments for broadband access? (there are). Despite criticism from opposition political parties that the 2Mbs universal broadband commitment is weak, it is a significant move. It is also welcome that the report suggests unleashing mobile operators from spectrum licence agreements encouraging them to do their bit in delivering this commitment. This could enable us to access content and services wherever, however and whenever. The Government hasn’t ruled out giving public money to help this universal broadband commitment either. The final report is due in the summer, but this interim document states the importance of online advertising to the UK digital economy: “Britain has the highest proportion of internet advertising than any developed economy”. However it does seem to question its value to the digital economy and funding creative content. Among the 22 recommendations within the 86-page interim report is an action to “examine measures needed to address the challenges for digital content, including opportunities for providing further support to foster UK creative ambition and alternative funding mechanisms to advertising revenues”. Online will soon be the largest advertising medium in the UK. It pays for free content and services: from search engines to social networks. It’s no surprise that the Government believes that a “successful Britain is a digital Britain”, playing a vital role in dragging the economy out of recession. However, given this and our world-beating position in online advertising, it seems slightly bizarre that it remains to be convinced as to whether advertising is the right model for the digital age. Nevertheless, the point of an interim report is for discussion and debate. Clearly there’s plenty of this to do.

"Let us be the generation that reshapes our economy to compete in the digital age"

2175094 — Fri, 16 Jan 2009 15:40:00 GMT

These are the words of Barack Obama who, next Tuesday, will be inaugurated as the 44th President of the United States of America in what is one of the greatest spectacles in the political calendar (although it only happens once every four years). We all know that President Obama has some pretty pressing issues in his in-tray. However, in running for the highest office, we have seen him probably say more about the internet than any other Presidential (or perhaps even President) candidate in modern times. We all know that Obama used the internet and digital media as a campaigning and fund-raising tool like no other politician in history (he wants to keep his Blackberry despite being told it poses security risks). It gives us a pretty good clue that internet policy issues will be quite high up the political agenda. So - as the President-elect recruits a dog, chef and interior designer in preparation to move his family into the White House - let's have a closer look at what an Obama Presidency will mean for the internet, and what the potential implications will be for us policy wonks in the UK.

Right at the top of the list is the protection of children. Obama recognises the importance of keeping children as safe as possible when online. Significantly (UK Government please note) he emphasises the importance of the freedom of expression (enshrined in the First Amendment to the US constitution) and therefore does not view regulation as the answer to concerns about the potential dangers to children online. However, he will encourage industry not to show inappropriate adult-orientated commercial advertising during children's programming and help give parents options to block objectionable online content as well as help prevent children to reveal personal information online. Obama will create the 'Sesame Street of the Digital Age': an interactive education programme to help inform the public. This would seem to mirror much of what is trying to be achieved in the UK via the UK Council for Child Internet Safety etc.

Safeguarding privacy. Obama will help strengthen privacy protection in the digital age, whilst recognising that the "huge flows of information that characterize the digital age bring enormous benefits." Much of this policy refers to protecting the public from potential breaches in privacy by US governmental institutions that hold large amounts of data on Americans, such e-health records, law enforcement etc.

Net neutrality. Obama will "protect the openess of the internet", supporting the principle of 'net neutrality' to preserve the benefits of open competition on the internet and to ensure that users are free to access online content. This will help protect the internet as a platform for innovation, creativity and freedom of speech/democracy.

Broadband for everyone. The new President and his team is committed to universal broadband for all via a universal service reform (a bit like Europe's Universal Service Obligation which BT currently has for fixed voice services in the UK). This will be achieved via a combination of next generation cable and wireless, mobile etc. All indications are that the UK will follow suit here: we'll know more when Stephen Carter publishes his interim Digital Britain Plan on 26 January. Obama's policy says this will be paid for using tax and loan incentives...

Government & public services. Obama will use the internet to transform government and politics, and use technology to help solve healthcare, renewable energy and public safety issues. This is a good lesson for the UK Government which still seems to employ a 'horse and cart' approach to all communications. Obama's team is committed to enabling citizens to easily track online federal grants, putting more government data online (such as environmental and pollution information), embracing online 'town hall' meetings for his Cabinet officials, opening up White House policy for public review before signing any non-emergency legislation, and employing social media to modernise internal, cross-agency and public communication to improve government decision-making.

These are of course policy commitments by a man who - at the time - was wanting the American people to vote for him. However, I doubt many of the millions of people who exercised their democratic vote last November were that well aware of these policies. Tuesday's events will be hugely symbolic and, at last, we might have an administration that uses the internet and takes its impact on the rest of us seriously.