BBC iPlayer creator: 'Society is only at the beginning of the digital revolution'
The digital revolution that is currently taking place is akin to the industrial revolution, Tony Ageh, controller of archive development at the BBC, stated at the D14 Summit.
He also argued that despite the speed at which it is taking place, society is only at the beginning of the digital revolution.
Ageh, who led the team that devised iPlayer, said: “Risk and safety regulation is still evolving in the digital environment. Many responses to data protection, net neutrality and individual acts of copyright infringement are parallels to the lack of concern for health and safety in the Industrial Age.
“I believe the public has a naive expectation that someone somewhere is keeping an eye on things, and will be very disturbed to find out when it is too late that they should have paid more attention to the terms and conditions we all agree to every day without ever reading them.”
He called for the equivalent of a ‘health and safety’ policy for the digital age, stating that there are ethical questions to be answered about issues including data protection and acceptable online behaviour.