It may be that my first take on the budget significantly under estimates the impact of the changes around the use of pension savings. I was looking to make the point that you’d need to be rich, or to have been rich for this to make a difference but it’s possible they will have a wider effect than I expected. The stock market reaction and political comment certainly suggests that this is the case. …
It was the budget yesterday! Some quick comments on the #bingotax and some of the savings reforms. …
New Cross Labour Party have published Joan Ruddock’s submission on Convoys Wharf planning application for consideration by the Mayor of London on their web site. Joan argues for better planning and support for the Sayes Garden project and the project to rebuild the Lenox, the flagship of the Restoration Navy. She also states that the current provision for social housing is not adequate, although I am given to understand that the final determination of the housing mix is to be taken later in the process. …
The European Parliament, last Wednesday voted on a resolution coming from its Civil Liberties committee which determines the European Parliament’s response to the NSA’s democratic over reach. As Glyn Moody points out in his Techdirt article, in order to become binding, it will need to be agreed by the Council of Ministers where their votes are directed by the Governments of the EU member states. …
Earlier today, I discovered on Twitter that Claude Moraes, one of London’s two Labour MEPs is backing the wepromise.eu charter which I wrote abut last month here. 10 promises to ensure the internet works for citizens, not corporations, nor the secret police. …
Among the voices campaigning for a web/internet fit for people is Sir Tim Berners Lee, the inventor of the world wide web. In this Guardian article here his fears that government’s surveillance and corporations desire to shape traffic for commercial benefit will threaten the interests of the people of this planet. …
Monica Horten has a new book, and I went over to the LSE to attend a panel session entitled “Copyright and Freedoms in a Digital Europe: Liability of Intermediaries” to launch it, or boost it. The book’s called A Copyright Masquerade: How Corporate Lobbying Threatens Online Freedoms. The panel was chaired by Anne Barron of the LSE , and was attended by Jeff Taylor (BPI), Nick Lansman (ISPA). …
The BBC, in response to the Government created funding crisis have decided to terminate BBC3 as a broadcast service. Since they seem to plan to keep releasing the programs via iplayer, I am not sure how it’ll save money. They will also have annoyed powerful enemies with friends in government by their plans to maintain BBC3 as an online, i.e. iplayer service. The Guardian in their review of the announcement look at the economics and repeat the market research that many of BBC3’s fans and consumers are online anyway. Let’s hope this is a deliberate strategy to meet the government’s cost reduction targets while defending their news reporting and establishing a right to publish digitally and on-line, since the latter policies are contentious within the politics of media regulation. …
I have today submitted evidence to the EU’s Copyright Consultation. I used http://copywrongs.eu/ to help me, they filter the questions for you, and I wrote about exceptions (we, especially in the UK, need more) , clarity and derived works (again arguing for more), the balance of rights between copyright holders and citizens (more rights for citizens) and the appropriateness of old laws and concepts to the digital age (they aren’t). …