Growth Review of the Digital and Creative Industries

I was asked at very short notice to provide input into the joint Treasury and Department for Business, Innovation and Skills' review of how to promote growth in the Digital and Creative Industries.

Sadly, the briefing paper's only mention of the Internet was as a "threat to our ability to protect and monetise creativity", so the JANET response points out the many commercial suppliers of digital content who are using the network to increase the "monetisation of their creativity", both in the UK and beyond, with their intellectual property rights protected by federated access management technologies and agreements.

There was also a request to identify regulatory barriers, so I've again pointed out the difficulty of delivering privacy-protecting Internet services in compliance with the current Data Protection Act and the likelihood that future innovative distribution technologies will be hindered by the continuing demonisation of novel protocols. Nice to have quotes from the Information Commissioner and the European Commission respectively to support those points!