While I applaud any government that has a digital outlook and digital strategy – I also have to look at why it is being produced, for who’s benefit and what the salient points are from it! I am very sceptical around Governments that have “Ministers for XXXXXX” that in fact have no real understanding of the issues, risks and dependencies. They will get in “experts” consultants to help advise and shape what the output should be. Ultimately there is then the element of self interest, self-justification and self-promotion – which within a Democracy such as ours – the Government should be for the people by the people.

The full Government document can be downloaded here however there are 5 key objectives for Digital Britain – they are:

Digital Britain: Five objectives

1. Upgrading and modernising our digital networks – wired, wireless and broadcast – so that Britain has an infrastructure that enables it to remain globally competitive in the digital world;
2. A dynamic investment climate for UK digital content, applications and services, that makes the UK an attractive place for both domestic and inward investment in our digital economy;
3. UK content for UK users: content of quality and scale that serves the interests, experiences and needs of all UK citizens; in particular impartial news, comment and analysis;
4. Fairness and access for all: universal availability coupled with the skills and digital literacy to enable near-universal participation in the digital economy and digital society;
5. Developing the infrastructure, skills and take-up to enable the widespread online delivery of public services and business interface with Government.

So let me begin by having my annual POP at the BBC and why in 2009 it MUST be broken up and given distinct roles or responsibility and commercial accountability. The BBC as the Digital switchover dawns can or should have such a monopolistic strangle hold on broadcast (in terms of radio & television) as well as it’s ongoing technical development and delivery. Also look at this objective..

ACTION 20
We are inviting the BBC to play a leading role, just as it has in digital broadcast, through marketing, cross-promotion and provision of content to drive interest in taking up broadband. With other public service organisations, the BBC can drive the development of platforms with open standards available to all content providers and device manufacturers alike.

So why do I still object whole heartily to the ongoing development, funding and technological advancement of the BBC? The document pours praise, appreciation and on-going support and justification for the Corporations dedication and commitment to the Digital Landscape – and ultimately a Digital Britain. However, as I have voiced in the past – as many other agreed / and disagreed with me – I am all in favour of a certain ratio that we have public service / funded programming that has objectivity as well as entertainment at its core. It must fall in line and protect the investment and quality of both its output and its diversity. Paying an individual a constant higher rate as it “benchmarked” against the industry and value / worth of such an individual. Not if its the BBC that is propping up the cost of such a “presenter” Equally diversification in content is also key – this means that although the cheap and easy win for the BBC is to churn out as many “reality” shows as they are seen as successful is neither a reason nor excuse to continue the onslaught of such programmes.

The technical issue that I have with the BBC and it’s continued investment and digital stranglehold on the commercial realm of others is quite simple – Reports that the highly successful and innovative BBC iPlayer actually took over 6 years and a range of costs (buried within certain areas) between £20million - £120million – depending on who you speak to! This is unacceptable and pushes out the fair-play advantage that say Channel 4 and Channel 5 face in delivering their on-demand service that will be fraught with issues and complications – that they commercially can not complete as they do not have the never ending supply of licence payers cash to prop up their development – especially at a time where ITV will either be bought out by private investment or crumble by the way-side. Channel 4 & 5 considering joining forces – Television broadcasting is changing forever with the advent of digital media and the consumers appetite for their own broadcasting and will watch what they want whenever they want it is fast becoming a reality. The BBC can not to continue to dominate and sail on through with Government nods, winks and leadership based on the licence payer (you and I) footing the bill for their continued development. The next phase of the BBCs investment, funding and technical dominance in this space codenamed “CANVAS” Not too much is being divulged at this stage as there are plans and discussions as well as contracts and NDAs all over the place forbidding people from talking about this – however with a failed Home IPTV service from BT (£200million with 200,000 subscribers) ITV on the brink of collapse, Kangaroo booted from this world by OfCom – then it makes sense then to combine an IPTV solution with all parties – compete against SKY, Virgin and others with a FreeTV offer!! Which is a slap in the face for Sky and Virgin that have been battling it out in investment, technical advancement, programming as well as working out a sound and solid commercial business model. To then supersede this with a FreeTV offer really does not inspire confidence in continued investment in Digital Britain as where is the common ground that each business competes on? SKY & Virgin will go head to head in bidding for rights to Sports, Movies, TV shows etc.. which in turn must make solid financial viability so that they can build their ad structure around this – also including on-demand services where they will look to wrap additional digital assets with this to create a create experience for the user – but also a robust finance model.

The same must be said for the ISPs and the Digital Music TAX that I mentioned in my last blog. Not only does the government talk of continued investment and growth of the ISPs service and delivery capability – it must also be guardian, police and prosecutor of the "WWW” (Wild Wild Web) Broadband will become like a utility – and so it should be. The infrastructure is sorely lacking – and the recent discussion around the £1.5 - £2 billion spend on the new BT Fibre infrastructure is of course welcomed – but be aware that the UK being as small as it is has a very very poor reputation in its ability to deliver big scale projects in the biggest of our cities – looking at the water, gas and electricity redevelopments that have been going in and around London over the past few years has been somewhat shocking to say the least. Leaving Local Councils – where some of the most infuriating and “jobs worth” people in society “work” today. We have seen so many failings in the past from all walks of the local council infrastructure (from child protection, planning, local support…) – that to allow these people lose on a Digital Britain – where not only do they stifle progression and development of technology (look at some of the 3G mobile mast decisions – both in terms of approval and disapproval of sites) these people are so out of touch with technology that to allow them anywhere near the vision of a digital Britain is somewhat worrying.

Elements of what is contained in this document (see Action 13) was hinted at by the CEO of UK Music at the recent MidemNet conference in Cannes (read my take on that here) With Feargal Sharkey announcing that the Government, ISPs and UK Music have a “plan” to tackle the illegal world of file sharing and how they can or should combat this..

I've discussed in many blogs in the past that the ISPs can indeed block specific and protocols from their service – even down to specific IP locations. Think of your Office corporate network – where you cant access social networking sites, porn, gambling or streaming music services…. so do people think that ISPs with their technology can’t do the same with customers?? Of course they can – and some have already started implementing blocking technology - “quick close the stable door…” springs to mind!! Then the cool kids at Google this week announced “New Google Tools Determine if Your ISP Is Blocking BitTorrent” so as soon as the ISPs decide to finally take some action on this the technology companies deliver a sniffer that can determine if your ISP has decided to prevent themselves from being taken to court by the copyright holders of the music industry…. The action taken and being proposed is all based around the Music Industry and what UK Music, ISPs and Government have been plotting to “fix” it. Classic that it takes almost 10 years to come up with a solution (that they could have implemented 10 years earlier) just as technology drives forward with even more advancements in data storage and transfer. Sorry its really not about the music – its about data that is being transferred around the world. The only hope just now is that people are using P2P and Torrents to enable this – but as we move into more advanced seamless synchronised services – detecting what is an illegal download and not a user who as decided to back up their music content in a cloud storage solution and syncs or downloads the content to another of his devices will be impossible to track.

However what everyone failed to look out for is that by installing a sense of fear in innocent people who are no longer sure what is legal or illegal while using the internet – as well as restrictions, what they have looked at and ultimately downloaded. Take a mum who finds a knitting pattern that is posted on a chat forum – she downloads the pattern and uses the pattern. Now with all the hype and scare-mongering from all corners the pattern was copyrighted and the IP belongs to someone – however an unscrupulous Nigerian gang starts sending blanket letters informing the householders that “illegal or copyright protect content has been downloaded via the users IP range” – they will use the common 192.168.1.X – to show that they know it is them (of course this is the default for wireless routers in most peoples homes – as well as its easy to find out BT, Virgin etc.. range of IP addresses) “and will demand that a payment of £800 and confirmation that they will no longer take part in illegal downloading of content” the scared user coughs up and suddenly the knitting pattern that she downloaded with her friends has just cost her £800!!! Don’t think that it wont happen – it already has!! There is also the matter of perhaps someone looking at Porn, Gambling, Images etc.. the letters will be worded in such a way that it will put fear into anyone who is unaware of what is happening – a scam.

It does however throw up that knitting pattern, it is someone's copyrighted material, as are images, JPEGS, photos, blogs… the list is endless  - the internet is full of wonderful information – that copyright must be protected and respected – but at what cost and who ultimately pays the price for this? UK Music and the Government think that with Music the ISP should be liable in the first instance unless they levy a charge to their users where information will be passed to the rights holders to take action! Yes piracy is stealing and there is a core of users that will continue to kick against the norm and feel that it is their right to share everything for free – and when I mean a minority 1million in the grand scheme of the world wide web is of course a minority – torrents will start to vanish this year – and be completely gone by 2010. Governments, ISPs and lobbyists will pat each other on the back that they have succeeded where other failed in their attempt to curb this “disease” – Meanwhile the sharers will have multiple accounts set up where they will share even more content with even more vigour and speed than ever seen before.

However as before will the relevant powers that be wait 10 years again to curb this new way of file sharing – or will they come quicker to the people that understand this area better than the rights holders, Governments and other lobbyists who get so hung up on the passion – that its music, its art, its our creative industry – yes it is, but take a step back and realise that your problem is actually a technical one – as un sexy and unglamorous as it is – data is being copied and distributed – what that data is, is irrelevant to a technology company, they have the technology and understanding to fix the issue.

Anyway – I will dissect the document (there are 86 Pages!!) in more detail – of which as I mentioned at the start of this Blog – more than delighted that we are shaping a unified digital vision – and know a few people that play apart in that shaping – who are very intelligent and smart people – however if there is any hidden agendas or other Lords who for a bung would, allegedly, change legislation – then the Digital Britain will not be as wonderful as us Futurists have been predicting!