The government published the final coalition agreement this week. The government proposes to:
End the storage of internet and email records without good reason;
This is good. The cost to industry was going to be enormous to do this. This might well also affect the government’s thinking in respect of the Intercept Modernisation Programme (IMP). IMP is a whole different can of beans whereby ISPs were going to potentially be asked for all sorts of interception and tracking involvement by the Big Brothers.
Ban the use of powers in the Regulation of Investigatory Powers Act (RIPA) by councils, unless they are signed off by a magistrate and required for stopping serious crime;
This had apparently been subject to “abuse” by councils using RIPA as a tool for sortig out their own local disputes. It is good move.
Ensure that BT and other infrastructure providers allow the use of their assets to deliver the superfast broadband;
Poles, ducts and cabinets to name but a few.
Introduce superfast broadband in remote areas at the same time as in more populated areas and use part of the TV license fee that is supporting the digital switchover to fund broadband in areas that the market alone will not reach.
Lets get on with it. Needs more effort. Could do better.
No sign of the repeal of the Digital Economy Act unfortunately. They are going to “see how it goes”. Word is that the filtering might not make it through the first few months of this parliament as this was not something covered by the initial Bill but introduced on the fly (in a rush – call it what you want).
3 replies on “A brief ISP take on the final coalition agreement #DEAct”
It will be interesting to see if BT do allow the use of their poles/ducts/cabinets, I have the feeling there will be so much red tape and rental charges it will put DIY fibre out of the window for most communities, but hopefully some private entrepreneurs will rise up to provide what the telcos can’t.
Regarding the deact, I think as the new parliament get up to speed on things digital they will sort it out. I live in hope. A repeal would probably have made it top of the agenda and sidetracked them from getting on with the job of getting the infrastructure right, but its all chicken and egg really. The deact and its powers protects the copper cabal a while longer before the network falls over as more people get online? That gives us chance to get more fibre in to be ready for when everyone grasps the enormous potential of next gen access. I still think the deact was a strawman to sidetrack everyone. The dark lord surely can’t be so stupid as to think it could ever have worked? Surely?
Stop calling me Surely!
I won’t, because you’re not a Templar :-). Just don’t do what Simon says …