[ILUG] Canvassing and politicians

[Brendan Minish]

On Tue, 2010-11-23 at 12:51 +0000, Éibhear wrote:

> I am a member of The Green Party, and we have just submitted a proposed IT
> policy document for ratification by its National Council [See below on the
> process involved]. This doesn't include the Telecoms policy, which is
> being prepared separately.
> 

IT and telecomms policy need to go together. 

The green party gave us one of the worst ministers with responsibility
for telecommunications that the state has ever had.

This minister gave The last tranche of EU funding available to Ireland
for improving broadband infrastructure to a singe Mobile operator to
roll out a 3G 'midband' solution to rural and under-served areas. 
This was done in such a way that it actually harmed existing and
un-subsidised operators that were already operating in some of these
areas.

This minister has done precisely nothing to improve investment in or
access to national Wholesale transit networks (carrier grade fibre and
leased line services ) 

The greens actually had a pretty reasonable manifesto for Telecomms when
they ran in the last election, it's a pity they threw it out in it's
entirety to get into government with FF

It's important that we work with all parties to see better IT and
telecommunications Policy being implemented but based on past
performance Green party policy in this area is going to be utterly
irrelevant, they Did nothing about it whilst in power and will have no
influence at all going forwards. 

regards
Brendan  


> Highlights:
> 
> Government CIO office:
>   * Procurement
>     - Avoidance of "lock-in"
>     - Strong preference for Open Standards. Full text of definition:
>       + adopted by an internationally recognised not-for-profit
>         standards organisation and is maintained using an open
>         and inclusive decision making process
>       + is published and available at a nominal charge (at most),
>         with permission to copy and distribute, again at nominal or
>         no charge
>       + licenses any patents that cover the technology in the standard
>         on a restrictions-free (thanks Glyn Moody!) basis
>     - Prefer FOSS solutions (specifically "free and open source")
>     - All s/w developed by government offices, or bespoke s/w developed
>       for them, to be released under EUPL.
>   * S/w cost responsibility and management.
> 
> Centralised access to services
>   * Open Standards
>   * Open access (c.f. Tim Berners-Lee current campaign)
> 
> IT for a Sustainable Economy
> 
> IT in Health
>   * "Electronic Patient Record"
> 
> IT in Energy
>   * Smart grid, smart metering
> 
> IT in Transport
>   * Integrated ticketing
> 
> IT in Education
>   * Emphasis on Maths, Science and CS education.
>   * S/w in schools conform to Open Standards and FOSS
>     preference policies.
> 
> Citizen Rights
>   * No reduction in rights and liberties for on-line activities
>     (i.e. can't have computers seized and searched without warrant;
>     can't be spied on electronically without judicial oversight; etc.)
>   * Expressly...
>     - forbids private organisations from intruding into a citizen's
>       privacy ("It doesn't matter how precious your 'IP' is, the
>       constitutional rights to privacy and due process are more
>       precious!")
>     - forbids private organisations from summarily punishing citizens
>       for alleged illegal activities ("three-strikes and you're out"
>       is out!)
>     - forbids "content" providers from interfering with citizens'
>       legitimate and legal uses of the so-called "content" (asserting
>       "fair dealing"!)
>   * Cryptography as a means of protecting private data to be
>     encouraged and promoted. Gardaí not to be permitted to demand
>     keys without correct paperwork.
> 
> Innovation in IT
>   * Absolutely no s/w patents
>   * Improve access for small companies to state contracts
> 
> And much, much more.
> 
> The process is for this to be presented for "first reading" in early
> December, and for it to undergo maybe a maximum of 2 more readings before
> ratification. It's a slow process, but we're planning to highlight these
> items to the party leadership in order to get them familiar.
> 
> Once finally ratified, it's worth remembering, the leadership is bound by
> the policy, as it's an expression of the membership's will. Unlike in
> other parties, they can't go off half-cocked and dream up their own
> policies ignorant of or contradicting the party's general preference.
> 
> If you have comments to make, please do so, on- or off-list. Due to work
> and other pressures, I'll need to keep things on-topic, though.
> 
> Thanks,
> 
> Éibhear
> 
> >
> > Kevin
> >
> > --
> > Kevin Lyda
> > Dublin, Ireland
> > US Citizen overseas? We can vote.
> > Register now: http://www.votefromabroad.org/
> >
> >
> 
> 
> -- 
> Éibhear Ó hAnluain
> Gibiris.org
> Dublin
> Ireland
>