TheWayoftheWeb

I try and stay away from commentin on politics, religion or football, but as someone’s whose first experience of voting brough the Labour party to power, I’m amazed they seem intent on ensuring I can never vote for them again.

There’s already a lot of coverage of the Culture Secretary, Andy Burnham proposing cinema-style age ratings for websites, ISPs forced to only offer ‘child suitable’ services, reining in the internet and censoring websites in an interview with the Daily Telegraph.

There’s been an enormous response, pointing out that the idea has more flaws than a block of flats, and culminating in Mike Butcher from Techcrunch UK setting up an Andy Burnham account on Twitter to follow

’some of the Web’s leading commentators in the UK, so that when he does want it back, it will be pre-packaged with people who can direct mesage him a few salient thoughts about the Web, at least before he makes policy on the hoof.’

Sadly it’s been suspended, although now @andyburnhammp has appeared.

Pic by Tim Caynes on Flickr (CC Licence)

Just as the dust begins to settle, comes the revelation from The Guardian that:

The private sector will be asked to manage and run a communications database that will keep track of everyone’s calls, emails, texts and internet use under a key option contained in a consultation paper to be published next month by Jacqui Smith, the home secretary.

Considering the former Director of Public Prosecutions has already described it in the article as a ‘hellhouse’ of personal private information, and the proposed tougher legal safeguards are meaningless in actual effectiveness, particularly in a crisis.

And sadly, I doubt he’s wrong.

As old chum @davidcushman said on Twitter:

‘don’t fear the database. Fear it’s centralised ownership and or use IMHO’

Which is exactly correct - whether it’s Google or Facebook, there’s a huge amount of data already tracked and available. And there’s nothing to stop a legal request for data.

But the idea of a private company having a centralised database and allowing access? Governed by a Government which can’t be trusted to look after the data it already has?

As Sir Ken MacDonald rightly says:

But the notion of total security is a paranoid fantasy which would destroy everything that makes living worthwhile. We must avoid surrendering our freedom as autonomous human beings to such an ugly future…

“It would be a complete readout of every citizen’s life in the most intimate and demeaning detail. No government of any colour is to be trusted with such a roadmap to our souls.”

No-one would deny that information needs to be made available in the event of a crime - but a centralized database would be the ultimate target for anyone to target in an attack.

And no doubt, the centralized database information would be taken as gospel in the event of a prosecution, rather than aggregating from various sources - so one error could be catastrophic for individuals or groups.

The one good outcome is it’s prompted me to review the political alternatives - both from existing parties, and possibly new ways to ensure this kind of stupidity can’t last.

With Barack proposing investment in broadband infrastructure as essential for the U.S economy, it seems weird to suddenly be envying my American friends for their political leader!

Originally I was going to write a flippant post about how doing social media is a lot like having an 8-month old (long hours and sleepless nights worrying about how he/it is developing, and which are the best toys to be providing to enrich his/people’s lives).

That prompted me to consider how lucky he is to have been born now, even if it coincided with the family moving house, me changing jobs, and an economic collapse.

While I’m no economic expert, I’d guess that by the time he’s reading, writing and computing, the economy will have recovered in a changed fashion to what has existed until now - new business will have arrived, existing businesses will have changed, and the wikinomics of collaboration and social networking will be an accepted part of everyday life and business.

It’s amazing to consider the opportunities that brings compared to my own childhood, especially when I’ve only just reached my 30s. (I’m still adjusting to publicly admitting it!)

In some ways I was fortunate to have been given a head start on reading and writing by my parents, and to have always been encouraged to be a voracious reader  - to the point that my primary school ran out of English and Maths textbooks suitable for me before I left.

Yet although I got good results from secondary school based on that start, if I’m honest, I probably good have done a bit better - and thinking about it now, it’s because I’d already got the information I needed, and I was bored waiting around to try and use it.

I wanted to be involved in projects and collaboration, and not in the restrictive setting of a school science laboratory, but in a wider world to be able to tie it into the things I was most passionate about. That’s partly why I played guitar and bass in bands, despite not being the most musically talented.  And why I wanted to write and be creative.

But the biggest struggle was finding people to collaborate with - especially as two of the things I really wanted to do was to create a comic, and to make films - difficult for someone with no art or photographic skills.

Now it would be relatively easy to network with similar people - indeed, last year I was helping to run an online magazine, Disposable Media, which sadly seems to have stalled around the time I left.

And that’s why I’d love to be my son - the only major barrier to creating, collaborating and experimenting is time - which is harder to find as an employed father than as a school student. (Definitely not impossible, just harder). (How many dotcom successes under-30 benefited from being at universities with similar technically minded people, and having the time to play?)

He’s going to have time and opportunity to make use of a world which allows real-time collaboration across continents, and the infrastructure may finally allow speeds suitable to do far more than is even possible today.

After all, a nine-year-old has become the world’s youngest Microsoft Certified Professional, and a five-year-old can have his own company (via Communities Dominate Brands). And apparently it won’t be long before my son starts navigating websites etc for himself, from chatting with Chris Hambly on Twitter.

Actually, thinking about it now, perhaps it’s better to just let my son benefit, and then fund my early retirement.

There really are two things which make it possible for me to work from home without having the money to build an office in the garden:
Sony MDR-V300 Headphones with Neodymium Magnet - Folding Design

+

http://www.last.fm/user/BadgerGravling

That and the fact I’ve got a bookcase partitioning me from the rest of the room and blocking the line of sight to the television (currently showing CBeebies to my partner and my 8-month old!).

Firstly, Merry Christmas to everyone!

Secondly, my love of marketing means that I couldn’t help but comment on a micro-brewery I discovered when I stocked up on alcohol for Christmas (in moderation, obviously!).

I’m still coming to terms with getting older - and discovering a taste for ‘real beer’ rather than massmarket lager, so I always like to try a couple of new beers on ever shopping trip.

Which is how I spotted Punk IPA from Brewdog.

Punk IPA from Brewdog - interesting beer brand and microbrewery

It’s definitely an example of a business, brand and product with the marketing built in!

From their site:

‘Beer was never meant to be bland, tasteless and apathetic.
At BrewDog we are setting the record straight.
We are committed to making the highest quality beers with the finest fresh natural ingredients.
Our beers are in no way commercial or mainstream.
We do not merely aspire to the proclaimed heady heights of conformity through neutrality and blandness.
We are unique and individual.’
A beacon of non-conformity in a increasingly monotone corporate desert.
We are proud to be an intrepid David in a desperate ocean of insipid Goliaths.
We are proud to be an alternative.’

Interestingly, they’ve just been successful in a battle with the industry-backed Portman Group over the language on some of the labels on their beer - for instance describing Punk IPA as an aggresive beer, which the group original claimed would ‘encourage anti-social behaviour’.

You can read more about the battle in a great post on the Brewdog blog. Meanwhile, I’m hopeful about trying some of their other produce, particularly the Hop Rocker, The Physics, and the Hardcore IPA!