October 31st 2006
By: Russ
Great article in yesterday's MediaGuardian by David Leigh and Rob Evans about the frail arguments being put forth by the U.K. government to reduce the cost and amount of Freedom of Information (FOI) Act requests, particularly those submitted by journalists.
After skewering the government's estimate of the burden of FOI requests, ...
October 30th 2006
By: Russ
For those out-of-work intellectual property wonks:
The Electronic Frontier Foundation (EFF) is looking for a European staffer to head up our new Brussels office and round out our international team. This is a new position focused on European Community level intellectual property and civil liberties policy initiatives that impact the digital ...
October 24th 2006
By: Russ
The European Commission is asking some important questions:
'How should EU policy be designed so as to stimulate the creation and legal distribution of creative online content and services in Europe? What are the obstacles to the implementation of successful new business models? How can public policy promote a satisfactory degree ...
October 19th 2006
By: Luke
Ofcom has published an evaluation paper assessing the progress made after its Strategic Review of Telecommunications and the Undertakings agreed to by BT as part of the final settlement in 2005. Ofcom's report is an evaluation of the impact of the Telecoms Review on the fixed telecoms market to ...
October 17th 2006
By: Roger Darlington
Today the Department of Trade & Industry announced the Government's plans for the future of consumer representation over a range of industries. Under one option in the consultation document of January 2006, the Ofcom Consumer Panel - on which I sit as the member for England - and the FSA ...
October 17th 2006
By: Russ
Amusing news out of Sweden: Two government ministers have been forced to resign because, among other things, they did not pay the television license fee.
I wonder what insightful blogger (and now foreign minister) Carl Bildt will make of this? Is he on the hot seat as well?
October 16th 2006
By: Roger Darlington
Now that's a sexy subject ... But it's big bucks and who pays and why are complex and controversial issues.
Ofcom issued a consultation document on "Mobile Call Termination" on 12 September. It is a formidable document of 281 pages. Embarrassingly it subsequently had to issue a list of corrections. ...
October 12th 2006
By: Russ
The U.K. news media gave good coverage to Mark Thompson's speech yesterday. Click here for a copy. It is a remarkable speech, not only for the candid line-drawing he makes with respect to what might happen in light of what the BBC considers a low license fee settlement, but also ...
October 9th 2006
By: Don Redding
Ofcom today publishes qualitative research on how adults, teenagers and children respond when asked to judge whether there should be restrictions on junk food advertising on TV. Strangely, Ofcom did not ask Opinion Leader Research to ask their focus groups directly whether they would support the idea of a pre-watershed ...
October 9th 2006
By: Russ
I just thought I would link to some more of the recent commentary on Ofcom's recent transition:
Ian Dale: 'I am sure Mr Richards is a supremely talented individual, but shouldn't this particular job be filled by someone without party political bias? Richards was a key adviser to Tony Blair ...
