Illegal file-sharing, universal broadband and a visit from the Ofcom Chairman
29 January 2010
A new year and the first of our monthly Panel meetings with a visit from the Chairman of Ofcom - Colette Bowe. We are always really pleased to have a chance to talk with senior staff at Ofcom, but no-one more so than Colette Bowe, particularly because of her past relationship with the Panel as my predecessor in the Chair. We had asked her to give us her sense of the policy climate and the challenges it might bring for Ofcom and the Panel over the next year. She was interested to hear what the Panel thought about illegal file sharing, given that Ofcom will take on responsibility for the Code of Conduct that will implement the legislation, if it goes on the Statute Book.
The Panel had made a submission to the Department of Business' consultation on the topic. We reiterated the concerns we had made in that document. In particular: that the process must be 'fair, reasonable and proportionate for consumers'; that there must be proper safeguards to protect consumers in relation to both the notifications process and whether any technical measures should be applied; and the need to recognize that the costs of the system will affect not just rights holders and ISPs but also consumers. Finally, since the proposed Code of Conduct will contain much of the detail of the system, we said we expect consumer interest bodies to be very much involved in discussions about that Code.
We also had a visit from the Department of Business to catch up on discussions about implementation of the 2 Mb/s universal service commitment. The Panel wanted to know what had been happening and when we might hope to see the promised procurement agency established. We pointed to the need to keep the consumer interest at the heart of the, now quite technical discussions. It will matter to consumers what 'universal' really means; who will get the USC and who won't. And it will matter what 2 Mb/s means; is it 'up to' 2 Mb, or something more meaningful for consumers, such as the ability to stream video content. We will be talking further with BIS about these issues.
We also talked to Ofcom about its Draft Annual Alan, which the Panel is very pleased to see included lots of the things we have been talking with Ofcom about during the last year, including work on switching for bundles and mobile coverage. but we had some other points which we wanted to raise which we will be submitting as a more formal response to the consultation.
Finally, we put the finishing touches to our own work plan which we will be publishing as a draft in the next month and inviting stakeholders to discuss with us - watch this space.