Digital Britain: what the experts think of the Digital Economy bill

In the end though, it has garnered headlines for threatening to cut off constant file sharers while also making changes to Channel 4’s and Ofcom’s remits, strengthening the Government’s power to intervene when domain names are registered, highlights the Government’s intention to better scrutinize violent video games, ‘tidy up’ some regulations around radio licenses ahead of the digital switch over and pretty much killed off the IFNC news consortia pilot scheme, which was on a shaky nail to begin with.

What seemed like a revolutionary idea when it was first announced has ended up as a bill that doesn’t even deserve the reference to a damp squib while describing it.

As a result, The Drum thought it would ask digital professionals for their thoughts on the bill and what they think needs to be done to take ‘Digital Britain’ aka, the digital industry in the UK, forward

Whilst the motivations behind the bill "strengthen the nation's communications infrastructures" and "equipping the UK to compete and lead the global digital economy" are well intentioned, does it really go far enough? Lets just take one element of the bill, that of enabling a minimum of 2mbs broadband connections for every UK household by 2012. This illustrates two issues of concern I have with the bill, that of does it go far enough, and is it practical? So the first part 2mbs by 2012, does that really put the UK at the forefront of the "d

igital revolution"? Does that put us toe, to toe with the 100mbs already available in Japan and South Korea, and does that show ambition against the backdrop of the Australian governments stated plans of 100mbs within the next eight years? Fail 1. Then how do we practically achieve this 2mbs coverage - with the assistance of a new tax as part of the recent budget? Can we practically achieve it? Probably not, and at 90% coverage what happens to the other 10%? Are we not inadvertently creating a digital divide between those that have, and those that have not? Fail 2.

Then there's the draconian elements of the bill that are centred around copyright enforcement. With the one hand they are putting in place measures to enable access to the digital age, and with the other the, putting in place laws to remove access to appease industry.

Good intentions hastily implemented.

Mike Parker, technical director of Orange Bus

Given that Singapore's citizens will have access to 100 MB connections by 2012, the UK's broadband infrastructure is frankly pathetic - as is the body politic's insistence on leaving its development to the vagaries of private enterprise. Your current connection might be just about good enough to download a few files and watch TV online, but digital innovation is a state of mind, and we need to give people the future scope and tools they'll need to run the next generation of services if there's any hope of witnessing a 21st Century that's been built by Britain.

Iain S Bruce, digital PR consultant with Revolver PR

The only way to ever stop piracy is to provide an alternative which is clearly better and offers more to the public than piracy itself

does. Technology is already far, far ahead of the politicians debating the Digital Economy Bill and can easily overcome any restrictions the music and movie industries are seeking to impose.

Virtual private networks such as Giganews already offer a way around many of the issues, and they are far from being alone. Not only will they disguise from your ISP what you might be doing, they will also allow you to appear to be operating from an IP address in a totally different part of the world! And it can all be so strongly encrypted that its already pretty easy to remain anonymous (sorry to the Drum ‘forum police’ who hate anonymity).

Surely, if the movie industry were to allow me to stream the latest episode of ‘Lost’ or ‘House’ the day after it appeared in America then I wouldn’t need to find an alternative.

This is afterall the digital age and the ‘Creative Industries’ that seek to stop such progress are no wiser than King Canute. You cannot stem the tide of progress, you can only embrace it and use it to your advantage. A little bit of rethinking from these outmoded behemoths and they could move mountains (even if they cant stop the tide.)

Nigel Hunter, managing director of Fuse8

Part of the bill which is dear to Mubaloo’s hear was the provision for further liberalisation of the airwaves. According to Ofcom, the iPhone and other smartphones are causing the mobile data traffic to grow at around 200% per annum. Pretty soon the mobile operators and users are going to run out of bandwidth within the existing spectrum. What was proposed in the bill was a deal that would limit the amount of bandwidth the major operators could own (allowing them to keep their current 3G licences) but bid for more spectrum when the Government auctions off the analogue TV signals. Due to the Election, ministers have dropped this proposal to rush through the rest of the bill which means that an increase in the available spectrum is still some way off. Expect a few more engaged tones on your smartphone!

Mark Mason, CEO of Smartphone Application Developer, Mubaloo

It's impossible to underestimate how important the digital economy is going to be for the economy as a whole in the long run. Infrastructure and industry support are the key factors in how well prepared we are in Britain for the future. Firstly our ambition should be at least to match countries like Korea in terms of infrastructure, speed, coverage and access.

Secondly, we've got a really rich history of digital innovation in Britain, from the invention of the microchip, personal computer pioneers like Sir Clive Sinclair, and our incredible games industry, we have entrepreneurialism in our blood and this should be encouraged and supported in real and practical terms with tax breaks for R&D and support for startups.

Andrew Brown - Creative Director at swamp

Digital Britain is a good bill in some respects as it does highlight the need to and the kick starts the push of open access of the internet and the increase in enhanced broadband across the UK. With convergence higher on the agenda than ever before following the Digital Switch Over, there is a great desire for platforms to be more synergised and truly cross-platform – allowing access to services wherever the customer is and whatever device they are accessing content from. Cloud computing is one way to answer the question but we need a more cohesive and driven solution to expedite theuptake and integration of open access and broadband penetration, cost isn’t an issue anymore its availability and performance.

Paul O’Donoghue, CEO The Distillery @ Reading Room

In order to enhance the digital industry here we need to concentrate on innovation – even in a young industry like digital marketing, there’s already tremendous pressure to off-shore, as skilled workers are available overseas at much reduced costs; so as an industry we need to pro-actively consider this model, not rush into it (there are plenty of offshore disaster stories), nor ignore it. There are parallels with the growth in IT services, and we should take the learnings from that industry.

Like all things in life, it’s a balance – “blended delivery” is the model that works for IT services, and how that is key to the Digital industry is that it keeps the high-value skilled jobs here; those involved with innovation, R&D and scoping. It plays to the UK’s heritage of entrepreneurship; but this is a skill that is not being taught; and one we need to foster if we are not to be overtaken by other economies.

Also key to our growth are those peoplewith the rare skill of joining the dots – the digital revolution creates a wealth of ideas, but to take these to market, commercialize them and indeed create solutions to real problems requires the ability to be agile in business models; a post-industrial style which does not seem well served by our academic institutions.

James Trezona, managing director of Mason Zimbler UK

We believe that one of the great opportunities for our burgeoning digital economy is that small groups of talented people can affect change on the web and achieve commercial and creative success on a scale that established global companies would be delighted with. We’ve seen a number of impressive Start Ups based in the UK capitalise on this, but the Bill as it stands could well discourage investors and entrepreneurs from supporting UK initiatives incorporating user-generated content, such as our own campaigning application, Twibbon. It’s a real concern that Government could wield unprecedented power over blocking and censoring users and websites based on flimsily-defined legislation.

Vivienne MacLaren, marketing director for Storm ID

The digital industry is about action, not words. Rather than fritter away its energies on policy white papers and vague strategy documents, UK plc needs to gather up its courage, stop talking and just start doing. There's a great deal of entrepreneurial talent struggling to find its way out there, and frankly I'd be happier if the government switched its efforts from shoring up declining business models to providing new businesses with the kind of practical front line support they really need.

Steve Leach, Executive Chairman, bigmouthmedia

The triple play of the internet, entrepreneurship, and individual capitalism is an unstoppable force around the world, and Individual Capitalism is the force that will shape the 21st Century. Politicians can do their best to justify their second homes by passing bills but it is the private sector that is going to get us out of the recession.

Ross Laurie, managing director of Line