digital policy

The digital issue we don’t discuss and its implications for the creative economy Computers’ ability to effectively simulate a huge variety of functions has allowed them to replace hi-fis, cameras, maps, DVD players, calculators, typewriters, cash registers, musical instruments, watches, TVs, newspapers, books, shopfronts, money and more. Although the changes caused by the general-purpose power of computation are widely observed, it is arguably less discussed than the role of data and/or the costless copying of information....

JW Turner’s ‘The Lake of Zug, 1843. In the collection of the Metropolitan Museum of Art. The Zug area of Switzerland is known for its concentration of blockchain activity. What is blockchain? In digital money there is a fundamental problem, how do you know that someone has the right to spend the money they are offering as payment, particularly if (as often happens in financial transactions) you don’t know them. One way to solve this is what happens in the banking system - you have a centralised authority that tracks transactions and verifies a person has the money that they claim, before allowing payment....

Data is different from other assets like gold and oil in that almost all of us, as individuals, generate it. Giving us more control over our own data will stimulate innovation, but realising the full potential will also involve collective action and anonymisation. Power to the people: Giving us control over our own data We should be empowered to control our own data. This is due to our part in its creation, our right to privacy for our personal information, the growing likelihood that this data will be processed in ways that affect us, but also the economic and social good that can be realised from it....

We don’t shop around for the best deals in electricity and banking. We don’t read online terms and conditions. Algorithms making decisions about these on our behalf might do a better job. At the same time, the algorithmic personalisation of pricing and products by firms may make our shopping choices less clear and it harder to switch supplier. The role of transparency in data processing and data portability in all this shows the importance of the European data protection regulation (The GDPR) set to be enforced from May 2018....

People who have contributed (red circles) to the Processing graphics software (the central circle) on GitHub, and the other software repositories (dark blue circles Why are we seeing more digital social networks in creative domains? The rise of specialised social networks Social network sites get more attractive to join as more people use them, resulting in a tendency for single platforms to grow to monopolise specific areas. This makes it harder for new-entrants to compete directly with incumbents, encouraging the development of social networks in other areas....

Government is making more and more of its data accessible as open data. Over 30,000 datasets have been made available. It’s great that more public data is being opened up. We, as taxpayers who have paid for its creation, should be able to obtain it in accessible form, and important things are being done with it.[1] Locking it away does nobody any good - vested interests aside. Nevertheless, making data freely available, even in a readily accessible form does not, on its own, necessarily get the most out of it....

Neo - Starcadia by Gil Sherman and Lenka Della-Porta. Photograph John Davies. The UK is widely believed to have a business department, the Department for Business, Energy and Industrial Strategy (BEIS). However, something which has gone largely unnoticed is that slowly, but steadily, a new business department is emerging and one with a remit that threatens to overshadow the current incumbent. Once mocked as the Ministry of Fun, the Department for Digital, Culture, Media and Sport (DCMS) has been acquiring portfolio after portfolio....

Establishing new markets where things can be priced and traded creates incentives for people and companies to work out how much something is worth to them and to trade and innovate accordingly. It is hoped that allowing us a greater ability to control access to our personal data, in exchange for services and money, could encourage similar benefits.[1] Part of this may involve the growth of Personal Information Management Services (PIMS)....

‘Something is free, if someone else pays’ - Anon. We get many free goods and services online via an opaque barter where, in exchange, companies access our data and try and sell us things. We say we care about our data[1], though if we could retain it, but pay for these products, would we? This option is not always available, but even if it was, it is not clear that we would take it....

Don’t forget the unelected. Not those shortly to be unsuccessful in the election, but the great unsolved problem of British politics: House of Lords reform. A problem notable for the lack of excitement surrounding the proposed solutions. We should change the terms of debate and consider using technology to involve the public in Parliament’s second chamber in a radical new way. Members of the House of Lords currently occupy their seats by virtue of birth or political appointment (plus a few more through religious status)....