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Articles for Category Tag - Politics

David Cameron Defends Broadband Delivery UK from “slightly unfair” Criticism

20th September, 2013 (33 Comments)

The Prime Minister of the United Kingdom, David Cameron, has told a select committee meeting that some of the recent criticism directed towards his £1.2bn scheme to improve the availability of superfast broadband has been “slightly unfair“. But he is prepared to look at the “possibilities” of BT having an unfair monopoly on related contracts.

Trouble for Altnets as UK Village Gets Annoyed by Lack of Broadband Choice

20th September, 2013 (8 Comments)

Altnet schemes are often praised for bringing faster broadband into areas that previously could not receive a good service. But what happens when their performance suffers and residents feel trapped by a lack of ISP choice. Could the situation with Rutland Telecom in Essendine (Lincolnshire, England) be a harbinger of things to come?

Politics and the Top 4 Myths of a Delayed UK Superfast Broadband Rollout

18th September, 2013 (10 Comments)

Many positive things came out of the NAO and Public Accounts Committee’s recent efforts to pick apart BT and the government’s Broadband Delivery UK (BDUK) programme (here) but not all were helpful. In particular there are four myths about the projects aims and delays that continue to persist despite being largely inaccurate.

UPD2 UK ISP Launch of Child Internet Censorship Rules Face Possible Delay

16th September, 2013 (0 Comments)

The Government’s controversial plan to force the country’s largest broadband ISPs into adopting network-level filtering systems, which would be used to help censor adult websites (Parental Controls), could suffer a delay after the minority Liberal Democrat side of the coalition voted against the measures.

New EU Rules to Protect Open Internet, Cut Mobile Prices and Boost Broadband

12th September, 2013 (1 Comment)

The European Commission (EC) has published its official proposal for the construction of a new EU Single Telecoms Market, which promises even cheaper mobile roaming charges, stricter guidelines to help safeguard open internet access (Net Neutrality) and new measures to boost superfast broadband development.

Nominet Moot BAN on Swearing and Bad Language in UK Internet Domains

10th September, 2013 (11 Comments)

Nominet, which manages the registry of .uk Internet domain names, has at the behest of the government launched a review of its registration policy for new website domain names that will examine whether or not it should ban certain words and expressions (e.g. swearing).

UK Isle of Wight Set to Pick BT for its Broadband Plan Despite Concern

3rd September, 2013 (2 Comments)

The Isle of Wight Council (IWC), which represents a small island just off England’s central south coast, finally looks set to name BT as the “preferred supplier” for their state aid supported £3.09 million project to rollout superfast broadband (25Mbps+) after council chiefs received fresh funding assurances from the UK government.

Rights Holders and Big UK ISPs Working on Voluntary Internet Piracy Code

2nd September, 2013 (3 Comments)

The British Phonographic Industry (BPI) and associated record labels (music publishers) are once again attempting to push big broadband ISPs including BT, Virgin Media, Sky Broadband (BSkyB) and TalkTalk into adopting a potentially “unworkable” Voluntary Code of Practice for tackling Internet piracy.

EU Reignites Idea of Higher Copper Broadband ISP Prices to Fund Fibre Optic

31st August, 2013 (31 Comments)

The European Commission (EC) has braced the telecoms market for the imminent introduction of new rules to correct for the current “regulatory mess” that is allegedly “hurting” investment in the rollout of next generation superfast broadband networks and leaving consumers “stuck in the internet slow lane“.

Worcestershire UK Allow BT to Overlap Existing Superfast Broadband Network

22nd August, 2013 (11 Comments)

The Worcestershire County Council (WCC), which recently signed a state aid supported £20.75m deal with BT to make “high-speed fibre broadband” (FTTC/P) available to 90% of local premises by mid-2016 (here), has warned that it could use some of the money to overbuild an existing superfast wireless broadband network.

Isle of Wight Council Delay BDUK Broadband Contract by 1-2 Months

14th August, 2013 (1 Comment)

The Isle of Wight council, which resides just off the coast of central southern England, has voted to defer the decision on whether to award their £3 million+ state aid supported contract for upgrading the islands broadband infrastructure to BT. Concerns about funding, the lack of “neutral information” (too reliant on BT) and competition were all raised.

RCBF Funding for 2 Rural Oxfordshire Broadband Projects Moves Forward

13th August, 2013 (0 Comments)

The £20m Rural Community Broadband Fund (RCBF), which aims to help premises in the most rural 5-10% of the United Kingdom gain access to superfast broadband, has allowed two bids for funding in Oxfordshire (England) to proceed (note: final approval has yet to be granted).

UK Government to Finally Repeal ISP Website Blocking Powers

9th August, 2013 (5 Comments)

Hidden deep within the text of the government’s new Draft Deregulation Bill 2013, which proposes to abolish UK regulation that’s “no longer of practical use” or is a threat to the economy, can be found a small line that would finally repeal the controversial Digital Economy Act 2010’s powers for enforcing mandatory website blocking upon ISPs.

Do New UK Consumer Rules Clash with ISP Internet Censorship Proposals

6th August, 2013 (4 Comments)

The government has today proposed new amendments to the Consumer Protection Regulations (Unfair Trading) that, among other things, would “ban pre-ticked tick boxes for extras that the consumer may not want or need“. But that’s precisely what big broadband ISPs have been told to do with their network-level filtering solutions.

Gov to Withhold UK BDUK Broadband Funds if Councils Fail to Publish Data

5th August, 2013 (11 Comments)

The UK government’s culture secretary, Maria Miller, could withhold an extra £250m of rural superfast broadband (25Mbps+) funding from local authorities unless they do as she requested and publish vital BT coverage information. The data is needed to help smaller ISPs (altnets) build their networks and access £20m of RCBF funding.

Do Big UK ISPs Really Plan to Block Website Forums and Swearing

5th August, 2013 (10 Comments)

The government’s controversial strategy for protecting children online by requiring the country’s largest broadband ISPs to introduce network-level filtering of adult websites (here) has come under fire again after some reports suggested that “Web Forums“, “Esoteric Content” and possibly even bad language might be on the censorship list. We attempted to find the truth.

UK Comms Review Published as Public Broadband Funding Tops £1.6bn

30th July, 2013 (0 Comments)

The government has today published a new policy paper for its much delayed Communications Bill which, among other things, sets out new powers to help Ofcom regulate the internet, telecoms and media sectors. Everything from tackling online piracy to the national broadband rollout is covered.