We’re relatively sheltered here, compared to the Commons, but nonetheless I come in on a Monday to a couple of inches of post and a page or two of emails fromthe PR industry. Most drops unread into the bin. When you know the subject, though, you read – and then the lobbyist has succeeded, as he’s got his angle in first:
Digital Economy Act – Judicial Review
As somebody with a keen interest in this area. I wanted to let you know that BT and TalkTalk have jointly filed papers with the High Court asking for a judicial review relating to the Digital Economy Act.
This is not a challenge to the principles of the Act and nor is it aimed at the current Government. Rather, the companies share a concern that obligations imposed by the Act may not be compatible with important European rules designed to ensure that national laws are proportionate, protect users’ privacy, restrict the role of ISPs in policing the Internet and maintain a single market. If clarity is not gained at this stage then BT, TalkTalk and other industry players may end up investing tens of millions of pounds in new systems and processes only to find later that the Act is unenforceable and the money wasted.
Throughout the passage of the Digital Economy Bill before it became an Act, BT and many others expressed concerns about rushing through legislation on matters as important as web blocking and interference with internet access. We felt that insufficient time had been allowed for proper debate in general, including significant changes made to the text of the Bill very late in the day. Our priority was, and remains, to ensure our customers are treated fairly and appropriately.
Please do not hesitate to contact me if you would like to know any more on this matter.
Repeal the DEA !
Nick Clegg stated clearly this needs repealing.
Martha Lane Fox and David Cameron state the internet is a necessary service on par with other untilities. The Act will see some users lose a necessary service without evidence, without a Court case and without common sense.
Children are victim to intimidation and bullying, the government does nothing. Children are at risk of sexual predators on social networking sites, the government does nothing.
People are conned by ACS and fake anti-virus companies, the government does nothing.
Sony & it`s like complain they could make more money, there`s no proof they`re losing it, and the Government jump into action.
The Commons : Elected by the people, controlled by business.
I rather find this depressing. The original act was awful the amendments in the main verbatim from industry lobbying between both sides of the argument. The public consultation non existent. Now for all the criticism even by some of the present government the act is being left for the courts to unpick.
Why am I going to be forced to throw out perfectly good radios?
I’ve had TalkTalk for over four years without a problem until the Australian part of my pension was overpaid to me without my knowledge and I appealed against Centrelink’s and the higher Australian PM & Cabinet and other Australian governmental departments’ and the Australian Welfare Rights ‘NGO’ rulings that I am 100% to blame for this overpayment and that both the Australian Government and Centrelink are 100% not at any fault whatsoever.
With the ‘snail-mail’ reply-by dates being impossible to meet, email communication became absolutely essential for me to submit my evidence or questions to Centrelink and to any Australian government department.
I have several times sent such evidence by email to the Australian Government, only many days later to be told “undeliverable”.
Today M120710 by telephone I have been told by one such department, for the first time since this blocking started years ago, that it is because TalkTalk is (‘) not approved safe/secure/complicit-with-Govt-requirements (whatever) (‘) and is therefore ‘blocked’.
I was then advised to use my laptop email address via hotmail.com
(which later today I shall have to begin to do – but far too late for much of my evidence to meet that Government’s deadline-dates, my lords).
I am ‘pure-English’, British passport; only worked in Australia for 30 years; so the balance of my pension comes from the UK government with whom ‘snail-mail’ is comparatively time-effective, and with whom I have sometimes made contact via my tower’s TalkTalk address without my evidence being excluded for that reason alone, I had not thought it necessary or advisable to ‘join-with’ this current issue; this despite the two governments’ refusals to share essential information ‘reciprocally’ which then makes the citizen (‘client’ to UK govt but ‘customer’ to the Australian govt) totally culpable for delays in both accuracy and timeliness of expenditures, incomes and life-circumstantial details.
I also now realise that large masses of the People/Government think that “Welfare handouts” should be stopped or constitutionally banned; which only makes this particular Issue more painfully pressing.
Therefore I feel a submission such as the above might now be in order.
==============
(JSDM1547M120710).
For the same reason people had to throw out perfectly good Tvs/videos that couldn’t take digital!
Personally I have no issue with the switch off – the seeming Tory delay is not a pain free option as many broadcaster now have to maintain at huge expense both analogue and digital radio stations. The problem which isn’t solved either way is that they have chosen the DAB not DAB+.
Grading correspondence, my lord, is always a Task.
Idea for improving LOTB work:
Grade your Topics according to Priority i.e. Importance and Urgency.
Many topics are quite short-duration ‘tactical’ ones; so publish those on (say) http://lordsoftheblog1.net ;
topics likely to last a few weeks on http://lordsoftheblog2.net
and so on to the Deepest-entrenched Constitutional matters on
http://lordsoftheblog9
?
——–
JSDM1242W1407
Grading correspondence, my lord, is always a Task.
Idea for improving LOTB work:
Grade your Topics according to Priority i.e. Importance and Urgency.
Many topics are quite short-duration ‘tactical’ ones; so publish those on (say) http://lordsoftheblog1.net ;
topics likely to last a few weeks on http://lordsoftheblog2.net
and so on to the Deepest-entrenched Constitutional matters on
http://lordsoftheblog9
?
——–
JSDM1552W1407
Those numbered LOTB sites in jsdm aboveare of course only ‘notional’ at this proposal stage (we trust and hope).
If not then perhaps they should be suggested as
http/lordsoftheblog1.net
and so forth (to avoid being mistaken fo real sites).
========
jm1617W1407)
Re lobbying and indeed serious democratic-citizenry participation, my lord, and on a much more general and basicly democratising note, could the following please be considered ?
Since both prioritisation of subject-matter and facilitation of response-ability are necessary, and since both need to be (made) sufficient, in dealing with democratic needs, hows and affordable-costs, and in preparations for legislation, does Britain have a ‘graded’ participatory-governance e-Site for serious general citizenry to participate in their own serious governance, as well as for vested-interest lobbying to be seen by the citizenry as well as by the parliamentarians at whom it is aimed ?
I believe that all honestly-democratic and long-term morally and monetarily sustain-worthy organisations, ‘private-Bodies’, and individual-citizens would benefit from such a Democratising-Governance facility as a graded ‘Nest’ of e-sites.
Such e-sites could surely be ‘cascaded’ in order of priority and response-ability.
Immediate-term ‘sub-tactical’ topics of the current hour could be posted and replied to on ‘site number #1’
(e.g. http;/lordsoftheblog1.net ) ;
and remain accessible for a minimum number of hours;
day-long (tactical) topics of the current week could be shared on ‘sites numbered 2 and 3’ and be accessible for days and a few weeks;
week-long topics sites numbered 4, 5 and 6, accessible for a few weeks uo to a number of months;
month-long strategic topics be on sites numbered 7 and 8 accessible for many months and quite possibly for several years;
and year-long constitutionally strategic topics be on site #9, perhaps ‘always accessible’.
————-
Very serious legislative matters or ‘conflicts’ could be additionally passworded for participation on sites #10. #11’ #12, and possibly have a non-passworded ‘non-participatory public-viewing-gallery’ ; and so on and so forth, my lord ?
———
Is any such Site already in existence in Britain for such a Need ?
(Indeed has it been tried by the European Parliament; or by the United Nations ) ?
It has previously been suggested that some Lords of the Blog might be both willing and able to begin such a better-serious democratisation, citizenry-participatory, and vested-interest ‘lobbying’
Nest of e-Sites.
Could any Lord of the Blog be interested, willing, and able to sound this matter out ?
========
(JSDM2359W140710).
I am seriously concerned at the Governments stated commitment to make the UK the fastest broadband nation in Europe by 2015.
The questions are, how and at this juncture of deep debt why ?
I am a small IT business, my connection through copper wire brings me 3.5mb speed. I have an optical cable connection outside in the street through which I could obtain 50mb but I find it unnecessary and financially unviable.
At 50mb I could possibly save some time downloading drivers but that is it. Pages I read for information would not be seemingly faster. The only other benefit is that I could get BBC iplayer in high definition.
The Government is about to produde yet another paper on this issue which I expect to be another cost at a time of cuts.
Talk is of broadband to the poorest and yet there is already in place a scheme that GIVES laptops and PC`s to the poorest which includes a package of broadband (approx £15 month). This is mostly taken up by single parents, most of whom I know already have broadband and pc`s. Seem`s to me being a single parent in this country is no bad thing, Council accomodation, broadband, council rates , laptop.
http://www.homeaccess.org.uk/
Back to the issue of fast broadband. Of course it would be beneficial to have faster broadband, I`d like a Ferrari but surely this is a supply and demand issue not that of Government.
One of the things we constantly hear is the need to bring fast broadband to isolated areas so they too can benefit. Supplying optical cable to a Shetland Isle would simply be beyong economics but there are already ways and I think Parliament is really, really lacking in knowledge.
I have a friend in the Shetlands who has been on fast broadband for years, not as we know it but through a satellite dish. Average speeds are 3.6mb judging by the companies who advertise it.
http://www.tariam.co.uk/products/homenet/
We also have mobile phone networks that get over 2mb speeds, yet the Government seems to be being spun the line we have to dig up half the country to lay cable at horrendous cost which is likely to be at the tax payers cost.
What is going on, is Parliament as archaic as the building ? I have seen Lord Lucas and others in action on the DEB and it appears an effort has been made to find information so I know some will know or could find out these things.
I do not want yet another tax that will be beneficial to those who can afford a large farm house, manor in the quiet countryside. The rise in VAT will hit me, one of the poorer, hard enough. I already pay a Television tax to the BBC, who incidently ruined their News website this week at great cost I expect.
Enough is enough, please stop subsidising commercial interests with my money, I can`t afford it. If these countrysiders want town benefits do as Norman Tebbit said “get on your bike”.
If the Government chooses to ignore this then please could they provide a scheme where my family could move to a nice house in the country paid for by the taxpayer.
I need to apologise for my part in submitting the same response-topic four times in succession above, the first three reasonably brief and the fourth (stet please) in more considerable detail.
This is because i did not know what to do for the best when the site confronted me with (1) apparent instant publication but (2) utter removal soon afterwards.
So I checked for faults, and simply kept re-submitting; ending up writing quite a ‘thesis’ about this ‘need for a cascaded series of topic-priorities’ e-sites between Parliament and People which, when also removed, I referred to the author Lord Lucas via his parliamentary email address.
Lo and behold! all four have now appeared.
———————-
Incidentally I have tried to find another major e-site for the sharing of such matters, but could find only Seniors Network which deals only with very minor local-council and neighborhood ideas and problems, and a 2006 site VotersRevolt which whilst looking reasonably serious and would-be democratic-improvemnt worthy, has a too-weak Aim (namely ‘to restore our eroded British Democacy ((when in practical effect Britain has not yet managed to advance into any sort of strong and effective ‘people-continuously-upwards’ democracy)) ) and may no longer be functioning worthwhilely.
=============
JSDM0753F1607)
The blog can be a very frustrating place as its main purpose is outreach to improve understanding of HoL work and issues.
Although Hansard is very tolerant of posts that stray from the theme, they put up with me for instance; the blog is not really a place for partisan politics or matters of a personal nature. That is to say nobody would really stop you if you wanted to press for a new law because your cat ate the canary.
Both Lords Norton and Lucas have their own blogs; Lord Soley used to have one but I think he has closed it down? Both peers always warmly welcome new bloggers to their sites. Lord Norton used to be the main moderator for LotB, if it didn’t get posted it was his fault. Having said that it was never nice to hear from him that your post had ended up in the spam can and that’s why it got delayed.
As for posts appearing before moderation and then disappearing, it used to be better but not perfect when the site ran from WordPress US servers which use cookies that captured and store what you said for up to one year. The site is now UK based and the technology is different as they don’t use cookies? So its session only it seems. Carl.H is the best chap to contact on this as he might explain it better.
Hansard might consider allowing the personal blog URL’s of peers in the authors section or adjacent to the header on their editorial posts?
Lord Norton
http://nortonview.wordpress.com/
Lord Lucas
http://lordlucas.blogspot.com/
Correction they are using WordPress cookies.
Commenters
http://codex.wordpress.org/WordPress_Cookies
Your workstation may be ditching them?
Hard to tell the difference between censorship and software configuration.
On the particular days when JSDM had trouble there was indeed a problem, post`s were not being reported correctly and some disappeared altogether. Rather than being the normal problem with the spam filter which can be overactive it was a bug in the site judging by the mail I receieved from Hansard.
Hansard were quick to respond and although it took a while to put right, it was rectified.
If you should have a problem with site might I suggest the first call be to use the “feedback” button at the top to report it.You`ll find you will get a response from Hansard who are open to communication, please remember this may not be instantly.
I`m sure Hansard would apologise for any inconvenience caused.
I spoke to a boffin about this and one of the problems users may be having is that their browser may be set to remove cookies when the browser closes; this is often the case for security reasons if you do not have personal rights to your browser settings as part of say, a corporate maintained environment.
I think what happens with the ‘comment_author’ cookie is that the text of your comment is hashed (into a highly compressed text string far shorter than the original) and then appended as part of the cookie filename in this case immediately after the word ‘_author’.
This gives the cookie a unique ID allowing you to make as many comments as you like, each will have a unique cookie associated with it; when you return to the web page the compressed string is expanded back into your original text if the comment is still awaiting approval. The other cookies for email and URL are there to auto fill their respective boxes.
In Firefox 3.6.6 these cookies can be viewed under Tools/Options/Privacy/ ‘Show Cookies’; if there are no cookies present then click the ‘Settings’ for clearing history button and untick the cookies box. If privacy is a concern then you might try ticking the box ‘Automatically start Firefox in a private browsing session’ and tick the box ‘Accept cookies from sites’. Untick the box ‘accept third party cookies’.
Hope this helps?
I`ve been in touch with Hansard and the new system is slightly different to the old and will affect JSDM and anyone else who post`s consecutively.
If you post more than one comment in a blog only the last you post will show “your post is awaiting moderation” HOWEVER your other posts will still be there and once moderation has taken place WILL show up.
As JDSM posted 4 in a row only the last would have been showing up and this would appear confusing.
Hope this helps.
I had been hoping my first post on ‘grading comments’ at 1243 would have been sufficient to get that sub-topic across.
When it disappeared, I simply ‘rebelled’, tried to improve it slightly, and submitted it again.
Eventually I wrote the thing out in considerably more detail.
That too disappeared;
So I found Lord Lucas’s email address and mentioned the matter ‘off screen’.
Thank you for your various replies to this ‘Beecher’s Brook’ type of ‘blind’ obstacle.
Hansard is now emailing me direct, I believe with the intention of improving the performances of Site, submissor and moderator inclusively.
———-
JSDM0131T2007).
LB: We should be so lucky?
http://www.bbc.co.uk/blogs/bbcinternet/2010/07/a_new_appeals_process_for_blog.html
Last week The Music Void met with Lord Lucas in the House of Lords. He wanted to have a chat about what the Lords could do to help artists and music creators. As soon as we sat down, he brought up the Digital Economy Act. Read more here about his discussion…
http://www.themusicvoid.com/2010/07/will-the-house-of-lords-block-the-digital-economy-act/