Even though they make great fodder for writing on OfcomWatch, I just hate it when regulators or the government waste our tax dollars with useless, feel-good exercises poorly aimed at ‘protecting’ the confused consumer. Some examples we’ve previously mocked … I mean … highlighted include:

The Ofcom Pass - a labelling scheme to promote legitimate websites that help consumers compare telecom prices. The result: only one company sports the pass and it’s clearly not a big help because the reference to it is buried in the website.

The IT-Safe project - I’d like to know how many people (other than the immediate family members of the people involved) actually use this lame service!

But I recently found another. The DTI, DigitalUK and some vocational training colleges have teamed-up to present the public with the ‘Registered Digital Installer‘. We’re told this effort will create ‘an army of trusted, qualified engineers who will enable the UK’s switchover to digital television’. How will you–the unassumng consumer–know if your aerial installer is a soldier in the army? Well, DigitalUK say that the installer will bear the ‘digital tick‘ certification mark.

So when the aerial installer comes to your residence — ask to see his tick!