Simon Collister, PhD

Strategy + Consulting

Ethics

Happy 2009 (unless the government gets in the way)

by simoncollister 1 Comment

Guardin

As a rule I try not to 'do' predictions or resolutions at New Year. But I thought I'd flag how the UK Government plans to not only resurrect it's data intercept modernisation programme, but to outsource it as well, according to the story in today's Guardian.

Personally, I find the route down which our digital rights are being taken in the UK extremely worrying especially given the much more progressive and sustainable direction being taken in the US by Obama's incoming administration.

On the cards for 2009 we have the revised plan for the data intercept modernisation programme (being driven by the security and intelligence agencies), Lord Carter's Digital Britain initiative (any info anyone?) and plans to take a tougher approach on copyright/file-sharing.

Ironically, the latter two also present major opportunities to kick-start the UK economy if handled correctly. But let's wait and see shall we…

Happy New Year to all and here's to a prosperous 2009!

Technorati tags: UK Government, Data Intercept Modernisation Programme, Digital Britain, 2009

Copyright is criminalising the future

by simoncollister Leave a Comment

More on Lawrence Lessig’s superb WSJ column to which I linked previously.

Lessig’s mini-essay does a superb job at revealing the stupidity of the unthinking, process-obsessed application of copyright laws. As his prime example he cites the case of Stephanie Lenz’s video on Youtube of her 13 month-old child dancing to the Prince track, Let’s Go Crazy, for all of 29 seconds.

Shortly after posting the video, Youtube was sent a letter from Universal Music on behalf of Prince demanding the video be removed.

Lessig asks rightly:

“How is it that sensible people, people no doubt educated at some of the best universities and law schools in the country, would come to think it a sane use of corporate resources to threaten the mother of a dancing 13-month-old?“

In addition to highlighting this type of moronic activity Lessig helpfully points us towards some key policy solutions which will help governments, regulators and policy-makers understand and interpret how copyright should evolve in the (very near) future.

Although primarily US-centric, these can act as guidance for the UK/Europe and include:

  • Deregulate amateur remix
  • Deregulate “the copy”
  • Simplify
  • Restore efficiency
  • Decriminalize Gen-X

I won’t go into these in detail – you’ll have to read the column for that. But the final point, Decriminalize Gen-X, moves me. Lessig observes:

“The war on peer-to-peer file-sharing is a failure. After a decade of fighting, the law has neither slowed file sharing, nor compensated artists. We should sue not kids, but for peace, and build upon a host of proposals that would assure that artists get paid for their work, without trying to stop “sharing.””

As if these words weren’t prescient enough, we need only look at what the BPI is going in the UK in an effort to build the crumbling walls around copyright even higher.

Lessig’s column is an extract from his forthcoming book: Remix: Making Art and Commerce Thrive in the Hybrid Economy

Technorati tags: Lawrence Lessig, Copyright, future, Remix

When Think Tanks Go Bad: Policy Exchange and agenda-setting

by simoncollister Leave a Comment

I toyed with the idea of a career in academia for a brief time but decided it wasn’t for me owing to its often detachment from the ‘real world’.

I find that taking original ideas and applying them – or seeking to understand how they can be applied – to the real world is a more rewarding approach.

This is why I have a lot of time for think tanks: quasi-academic institutions that recognose the power of ideas to shape the real world around us.

Last Friday’s Guardian had a fascinating profile of the think tank du jour, Policy Exchange; current favourite thinkers for the Conservatives.

Policy Exchange has “enjoyed a dizzy rise to prominence” according to Staniforth and LabourHome’s Mark Hanson, in parallel with the rise of the Conservatives return to the political landscape.

But the Guardian article gives me some cause for concern as Policy Exchange’s standards seem to be slipping – or perhaps more fairly, being shaped – in relation to the Tories’ rise.

Firstly, there was the extremely worrying piece of research that claimed a number of British Mosques were publishing Islamic extremist literature which was revealed as dubious – if not entirely fabricated by Newsnight:

 

Then there was the bizarre report on UK regional development which recommended (according to the media) many people living in northern cities (e.g. Bradford, Liverpool) should simply move to southern cities (e.g. Oxford, London) as regional regeneration had failed.

There are also a number of other worrying examples flagged by Mark over at his PR Media blog and the Guardian profile, includiong PE’s views on welfare (“make’s people lazy”) and transport (“build more roads”).

Of course, I recognise a large part of this may revolve on ideology; some of PE’s ideas may not marry with my own personal perspective.

However, I would like to think I am rational enough to stand by policy recommendations based on “comprehensive academic research” (which is how PE described its extremist Islam report).

Take a look at the Guardian’s profile and make your own mind up.

Technorati tags: Policy Exchange, Guardian, think tanks, politics, policy

More Berocca

by simoncollister 2 Comments

Following on from receiving a Berocca blogger stress relief pack last week Rick Lamb and Lolly Borel have more round-ups and analysis of the campaign.

Rick actually manages to identify the people behind the initiative… step forward digital marketing agency i-Level.

I’m presuming it was their social media unit, Jam, who came up with the strategy and execution. I’d recommend them to use a bit more personalisation and transparency in their communications. 😉

Technorati tags: Berocca, i-Level

Berocca’s Blogger Relief – #PRFail?

by simoncollister 5 Comments

Berocca

Last month all round pick-me-up product Berocca generated a nice bit of online buzz among bloggers by giving away ‘Blogger Relief Packs’.

The packs contained a tube Berocca and other neat giveaways and to get one you had to register by entering a set of personal details. But as Stephen Davies pointed out at the time:

"it seems there are no guarantees of receiving one [pack] and reading
the Terms and Conditions (T&Cs) they’re only giving the pack away
to the first 50 applications. Another caveat in the T&Cs is that
they may use my details for future marketing activity and potentially
share them with third parties in relation to Bayer plc, the company behind Berocca."

Standard T&Cs perhaps or a underhand way to spam bloggers? Either way I signed up for a pack.

But a month on and no pack. I Twittered to see if others received their packs and Clashcityrocker she had indeed received her pack.

Now, I get that there were limited packs available, but why not a short email from Berocca to say they have run out and I’ve not been lucky. The whole affair seems a bit short-sighted, lazy blogger relations and a #PRFail if you ask me.

Technorati tags: Berocca, blogger relations