On Monday the 31st of October, I was invited and attended a dinner with Boris Johnson – our Mayor of London. He was introduced by our local MP Mr David Burrowes and about 200 other guests also attended the event.

The renowned Boris Johnson gave us a great and personal speech regarding all of the things he has been successfully fighting for and the current issues his office is working on. I do like Boris, as well as being an honest public speaker (I say honest because his speeches are not pre-written by a team of swing artists but rather passionate, off the cuff and entertaining ramblings) but also because of his passion towards driving progress for London. He is an environmentalist, an intellectual and a strong believer in building up the strength of London on the world stage. Don’t get me wrong, not every plan Boris has pushed forward has been a raving success but the point is he not scared to try new things and bringing new ideas to the table.

He said to us that we can be expecting the new eco-friendly Routemaster bus to start appearing on the roads very soon. The new Routemaster is built by Londoners for Londoners and will support job creation and in turn the London Economy. Most of all the new bus will be quieter, safer, more comfortable and much more environmentally friendly then the now obsolete bendy bus. The new bus is at the forefront of cutting edge technology and design and will serve as fantastic replacement. In terms of design, the new bus pays homage to the original and much loved Routemaster which has stood as a beloved icon for London and Londoners for so many generations.

Responsibility for the Environment as well as encouraging growth for the London economy is something we at Offset Media hold very close to our hearts. As well as the new Routemaster bus, Boris and his office are fighting for further advancements to transport and business in London. Also look out for plans of a new orbital over ground network which will connect up the whole of London and offer better connections to our airports.

We have been meaning to write a blog update for a little while now regarding the developments in smart phone technology. However It seemed fitting to write about this in context of the recent riots that we have witnessed in London and around the UK. Fortunately offset media was not hugely effected by the civil unrest even considering our close proximity to areas worst hit. Although I did find myself at one point “in the eye of the storm”.

There were two principal details that struck me whilst being amongst the rioters and looters. The first was their young age range and the second was that most of them were totting their smart phones as if it were a weapon. After the riots had past and I had the time to think the events over, I realised that this could not be any closer to the truth.

During the worst night of the rioting and looting the Police in London were stretched too thin to control what was happening. I thought, how could this be happening to one of the most modern and effective police forces in the world? That night it seemed as though the MET Police were always one step behind. Large groups of youngsters were mobilising seemingly out of the woodwork, in so many locations at the same time. When the Police finally caught up with these groups, they were dispersed only to later re-emerge in a new location with a new target. How can an unorganised, untrained and unmanaged rabble be so effective at keeping ahead?

The police eventually had to turn to using the same tactics as used by the rioters. They began monitoring Twitter and Facebook to discover any key targets and meeting points being arranged. They also began to rely on the general public’s reports of happenings in their own areas via the same networks. They even requested support from Blackberry as many of the rioters were using Blackberry’s own internal messaging system to communicate with each other.

I have heard many speculations regarding the blame for the riots erupting on such a large and sustained scale. The main one is the important role that the social networks played. I however would rather say the blame lies with the smart phone itself rather than just the social networks. After all the smart phone was the device used to access these social networks whilst on foot. Not forgetting that they would have not only been using Twitter, Facebook and Blackberry messenger to communicate but also simple voice calling and SMS.

Social networks can come and go and the platform we use to communicate can change with the latest fad. However unless we start implanting technology straight into our brains, the mobile device is here to stay. In such a short time the smart phone has organically become the dominant tool for communication and has changed the way we interact with the world around us. Most notably, it has changed the way we socialise, play games and make business. But… has it changed anything else? The answer is most defiantly yes. It has altered almost every facet of modern life, this includes the way we riot and by looking at the recent events in the middle east, also the way we topple governments. When the speed of information whilst on the move is king, the smart phone is defiantly mightier than the pen.

The Digital Economy Bill has entered the ‘wash up’ stage, with the MP taking the ‘Shoot first, ask questions later’ approach. Opting to pass the bill with all it’s flaws and amend it later. Knowing our government, this approach isn’t filling me with reassurance.

I seem to remember when the congestion charge was introduced as an experiment; when figures came back showing that it had made no difference what so ever, instead of admitting they were wrong, they increased it’s circumference. So once the money starts rolling in from all the extra charges that we will incur, I really doubt amendments will be made.

It does however seem that people’s concern have gotten through to our MPs. It has gotten a lot of media coverage online, but the lack of effort made by MPs to even show up for the crucial debate (see picture above) shows they really just don’t care.

Further reading:

http://www.guardian.co.uk/technology/2010/apr/06/digital-economy-bill-conservative-support
http://thenextweb.com/uk/2010/04/07/digital-economy-bill-races-finish-line/
http://www.inthenews.co.uk/news/technology/digital-economy-bill-lurches-towards-statute-book-$1369483.htm

38 Degrees raised over £20,000 to put an advert in today’s news papers. The ad will appear in today’s Guardian (Page 3), the Times (page 16) and hundreds of websites. One final push, and grand gesture not to get the bill rushed. Here is a preview ad:

Offset Media took part in a “Digital Economy Bill” flashmob protest on the 01/04/10.

“The Digital Economy Bill” compromises our civil liberties. This draconian law is opposed by industry experts, internet service providers (like TalkTalk and BT), web giants including Google, Yahoo and Ebay and many other groups. Despite all this opposition, the Government is trying to rush it through quietly just before the election without proper debate without a chance for us to voice our opposition.

Get involved, this is about our rights and our future.

http://www.38degrees.org.uk/
http://www.openrightsgroup.org/

I mentioned 38 Degrees earlier on this blog. They are doing all they can to see the bill does not get rushed through without due consideration to the consequences!

They plan to raise £10,000 to put advert in key newspapers and on websites specifically for the MPs to read and understand the gravity of people’s opposition to the bill. Every bit of money will help, please go to http://secure.38degrees.org.uk/stop-the-bill and do your bit, and spread the word. Who knows, we could be changing the world!

I’m going to end with a quote from the 38 Degrees team:

“We have one last chance to stop the bill. Party leaders can’t rubber stamp it into law without the support of their MPs. Thanks to over 18,000 emails we’ve sent over the last week MPs support for the bill is starting to crumble as they realise how many people oppose fast-tracking the bill through parliament

With the election just weeks away, politicians want our votes and may think twice about ignoring us. There’s still time to stop this bill being forced through – but we have to act quickly. Let’s show Parliament how many people are against the bill.”

Whoo democracy works! The people lobby against it, and the politicians are rushing the policy through the Commons before the general election.

You can watch a 2 hour long video of the debate on the BBC website. The BBC seem to have taken the public’s side and also appear to be against the bill ending their post with a quote from Andrew Robinson, who stated “The public will not respect a law that was quite literally written by the record industry, for the record industry. As it stands, the bill is fatally flawed, and fundamentally unjust.”

Panorama have also devoted an episode to the bill, which you can watch (for a limited time) on BBC iPlayer

Hopefully it not too late to sign this – http://www.38degrees.org.uk/page/speakout/extremeinternetl

More development regarding the Digital Economy Bill -

“The bill, which passed through the Lords by 165 votes to 140, now enables the High Court to issue an injunction against sites suspected of hosting material that infringes copyright and effectively force them to shut down.” – International Business Times.

It looks like all parties have a stand on the bill with the Lib Dems spear-heading the whole thing now wanting to ban site such as YouSendIt and now even YouTube!

There is some more interesting reading on the subject here:

http://www.ibtimes.com/articles/20100304/groups-lash-back-uks-piracy-bill.htm

http://www.guardian.co.uk/media/2010/mar/05/digital-economy-bill-pushed-through

Also, I really enjoyed reading the debate at the bottom of the BoingBoing post:

http://www.boingboing.net/2010/03/04/libdem-lords-seek-to.html

I spent all morning reading up on the ‘Digital Economy Bill’ after receiving a link that outlines fears the bill ‘wipe out indie WiFi hotspots’. Reading further into what the bill proposes; it really will affect the way we use the internet. First and foremost the bill’s intent is to stop illegal downloading and file-sharing. Though that is just one part, the key areas of the bill listed on the parliament.uk website are:

• extends the role of Ofcom to include reporting on communications infrastructure and media content
• imposes obligations on internet service providers to reduce online copyright infringement, and allows the Secretary of State to amend copyright legislation to the same end
• allows the Secretary of State to intervene in internet domain name registration
• requires Channel Four to provide public service content on a range of media
• provides more flexibility over the licensing of Channel 3 and Channel 5 services and allows Ofcom to appoint providers of regional and local news
• modifies the licensing regime to facilitate switchover to digital radio
• allows variation of the public service provision in Channel 3 and 5 licences
• provides Ofcom with additional powers in relation to electromagnetic spectrum access
• extends the range of video games that are subject to age-related classification
• makes provision for the regulation of copyright licensing
• includes non-print formats in the public lending right payment scheme

As you can see it crosses a range of digital media. Did you notice the one about domain registration? This is not as sinister as it sounds, intended to stop “phishing or for distributing computer viruses, for setting up websites selling fake tickets to events, and, in some circumstances, cyber-squatting and drop-catching”. It’s probably about time there was a modern infrastructure put in place to address digital media.

With that said this whole scheme seems less about protecting the copyright-holder and more about monitoring (and controlling) our internet use. The web was never intended as another means of control and as a result has flourished. Tim Berners-Lee (credited inventor of the web) was quoted saying,

“The challenge is to manage the Web in an open way-not too much bureaucracy, not subject to political or commercial pressures.”

It is becoming more and more obvious governments (i.e. China and Australia) have become too uneasy of the direction of the web.

This is a wide issue with lots of factors, but with a majority consensus being opposed to it. Large ISPs are all voicing their concerns, and even Andrew Robinson (the leader of the Pirate Party UK) has voiced his views against the bill saying ,

“This is a major attack on free speech and human rights. All the benefits of filesharing have been ignored for the benefit of the record labels. Not only is it free advertising for the artist, but it is good for the cultural wealth of the country. No one is excluded from culture if it’s freely available.”

If you are interested in the digital economy bill’ and the effects it will cause you can find out more here:

http://news.zdnet.co.uk/communications/0,1000000085,40057470,00.htm?tag=mncol;txt
http://www.telegraph.co.uk/technology/6614505/Digital-Economy-Bill-crackdown-on-illegal-filesharers-confirmed.html/
http://interactive.bis.gov.uk/digitalbritain/digital-economy-bill/
http://services.parliament.uk/bills/2009-10/digitaleconomy.html/
http://www.publications.parliament.uk/pa/ld200910/ldbills/001/10001.i-ii.html/