Lord Carter to quit: where will Digital Britain be going?

News that Lord Carter will quit government in July raises serious questions about the future of the Digital Britain proposals, which are due to be released next Tuesday.

Minimum – if minimal – standards for broadband; hopefully, additional thinking about privacy online; and the controversial and much disliked Digital Rights Agency are all expected in the final report.

Pressure from groups such as Consumer Focus as well as ORG emphasised the need to reform copyright in the interests of consumers, through additional user rights such as ‘format shifting’, which remains illegal in the UK.

Consumer groups are also engaged to ensure that letter writing and copyright enforcement measures are proportionate and remain within the courts. ORG is further concerned about “bandwidth throttling” and other “sanctions”, particularly if they are not subject to judicial oversight.

The government has not shown significant understanding of innovation and what generates profits in online digital industries. It has prioritised the interests of incumbent players and arguably – perhaps understandably – hasn’t fully grasped the mettle of future internet access and speeds.

But with Lord Carter departing, there is a serious question as to whether the government will push the Digital Britain agenda forward at all. Who will pick up the brief; will they support and desire the completion of its recommendations; will they be able to build up the political will to see any proposals through Parliament, especially as its mood darkens?

An extremely large amount of energy has been put into this report, from the government and interested parties that have written consultation and “discussion paper” responses. Despite the processes’ very obvious faults and omissions, stalling at this stage would be disappointing.

But despite these flaws – and whatever the actual proposals we see next week – there are serious questions now as to what action we can realisitically expect this process to produce. Many of the policies will no doubt trudge forward as part of government’s bureaucratic business, of course. But not all, especially those that are a little more difficult or adventurous, and therefore particularly good or bad. Potentially, a lot of people will have wasted a lot of their time.