Hunting The Digital Economy Act

Well the Digital Economy Bill may be an Act, but the shooting ain't over yet.

Hunting down the villains of the Parliamentary 'wash-up' will be a bloody, complex and expensive business. A process Lord Clement-Jones eloquently alluded to at the end of his damning speech on the DEB: "I hope that we have made the views of these Benches clear and that never again will such a complicated Bill be dealt with in this way at the fag end of a Parliament."

Here's a big offender, who was set loose late in the piece (italics are mine):

"18(1) The Secretary of State may by regulations make provision about the granting by a court of a blocking injunction in respect of a location on the internet which the court is satisfied has been, is being or is likely to be used for or in connection with an activity that infringes copyright.

(2) “Blocking injunction” means an injunction that requires a service provider to prevent its service being used to gain access to the location."

There's immense potential for evil in the exercise of this disproportionate, unnecessary and overly broad power. Establishing its true scope and guarding against unintended consequences is an impossible task. Numerous activities may "infringe copyright" (see sections 16-27 of the CPDA, for a start). It is unclear whether only the rights holder could  seek a blocking injunction. And what qualifies as a 'location on the internet' is anyone's guess.  Could one of your competitors spot any random technical infringement and try to shut down your web site? Your customer extranet? Your presence in  search results, price comparison tables etc etc? You would need deep pockets to insist that all this be clarified in the face of a threatened injunction.

Ten sub-sections try to avert the need for these regulations, but the villain is already loose in  the political underworld. Given the standard of our politicians, it's easy to imagine a Secretary of State being "satisfied that the use of the internet for activities that infringe copyright is having "a serious adverse effect" on businesses or consumers, that making the regulations is a "proportionate" way to address that effect, and that making the regulations would not prejudice national security or the prevention or detection of crime. Then the minister can do his worst, explain his reasons, wait for the 60 days of ranting to expire and press on with issuing the regulations.

No, this villain is loose - as are others - and they're coming after the little guys. It's the sort of challenge that attracts super heroes. If Hit Girl isn't available, I guess it'll have to be ORG.

All Washed-Up, Ready To Go

The despicably secretive, double-dealing frenzy of the UK Parliamentary 'wash-up' is an especially disgraceful and cretinous process in the hands of the current shameful, scandal-ridden crew. That they went ahead and wallowed in it shows they've learned absolutely nothing about how to rescue their institution from the desperately low esteem in which it is held. As they huddled in their dirty little corners to snuffle out a deal, few spared a thought for the millions of individuals who put them there or the mandate they were granted. Parliamentary reforms were ditched as they cosied up to the copyright moguls and helped themselves to the tools of leak suppression.

We can only hope that this insidious wash-up process and the tawdry deals it produced will adorn the funeral pyre of this miserable, tragic saga in global political history.

"Ye are grown intolerably odious to the whole nation . . . In the name of God, go".

Oliver Cromwell, 1653.

Kool Aid!! More Kool Aid!!!

The UK election battle is raging. From the plains of Helmand Province to the door of Number 10, where Gordo clings to power like a crazed gibbon hugging a tree. He'll have to be carried out of there, gibbering and drooling in a locked cage, if Dave and that other guy are going to get him out at all.

It's hot and dangerous work. New Labour goons roam the surrounding streets in ugly bands, some desperate to get their hands on  private loot  to fill the empty public coffers, others offering themselves for hire like cheap mercenaries. While deep down in the bunker, amidst the clamour and roar of media briefings, timeshare-style cold-calling, billboard banter and sound-bite skirmishes, staffers scream "Kool Aid!! We need more Kool Aid"!!! Dreading that without opiate, they and the masses will stop believing.

It would be time to flee, if the unions hadn't seized control of the roads, railways and the airways. So we're stuck in the battle zone, cowering behind any solid object we can find, rags stuffed in our ears against the hideous din. Only the insane and the very brave will risk the lethal dash to the polling booth.

On May 7, we'll know how those numbers stack up.

Not Travelling Light? That's Your Problem.

With its plans to redefine the expression 'travelling light' with coin-operated toilets on its flights and higher baggage charges during the peak holiday season, Ryanair's finally done it. Not content with the vicious spiral after its "idiot blogger" incident, and the piss-taking after the last time it suggested charging for Nature's call, the airline has crossed the line from facilitator to institution - from service provider that exists to solve it's customers' problems (how to cut the cost of air travel) to one that is primarily motivated to solve it's own (how to increase profitability).

Revealingly, Ryanair explains both initiatives as it's own attempt to change customers' behaviour, rather than adapt to suit their needs. It explains the baggage charge as 'urging' people to travel light, and it's spokesman is reported to have blatantly justified its pay-for-a-leak strategy as enabling it to pack more people onto each flight:

'By charging for the toilets we are hoping to change passenger behaviour so that they use the bathroom before or after the flight. That will enable us to remove two out of three of the toilets and make way for at least six extra seats.'

Not much comfort in either explanation - especially for those travelling with kids. Maybe they won't?

Bon voyage, Ryanair. It doesn't matter how profitable you say you are. You're doomed to a lingering death.

STOP PRESS: And in breaking news, Ryanair declares its refusal to comply with regulations requiring payment of passengers' expenses incurred while being re-routed during the recent flying restrictions.

Green or Greed Investment Bank?

I wonder whose problem(s) would be solved by the public sector 'green investment bank' being touted by both the Tories and Labour. 

I mean, do you believe the British Private Equity and Venture Capital Association is a staunch advocate of completely open and transparent financial markets? Or do you think it could be helpful to have a captive investor on which to off-load one's less than spectacular speculative green investments as a last resort?

Perhaps more importantly, would the creation of a public sector green investment bank allow or encourage individuals to buy-in to alternative energy projects, financing them in the process?

The current "problems" in the financial services markets - excessive fees and bonuses, lack of transparency, poorly understood products, the credit and pension crises - are the result of the sort of institutional tinkering epitomised by the proposed 'green investment bank'. We funnel investment opportunities and funding into a zone in which relatively few firms are permitted to operate. The results are increasingly complex products, less transparency, increasingly concentrated risk and less competition.

This situation won't change until the clear objective of the regulatory regime becomes the delivery of simple, low cost financial products that are accessible to us all. Rather than vainly trying to educate an aging population to become more and more financially literate, we need to vastly simplify the process for the average individual to invest/save in a fully diversified way.

Surely the successful investment firms of the future will be the ones who race each other to demystify and simplify the funding/investment experience, rather than those who enter into cosy, self-serving institutional arrangements like this one.