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New U.K. Party Calls for CCTV Cutbacks, Less Authoritarian Internet

by Amar Toor on May 22, 2010 at 11:00 AM

new uk liberal dems announce plan for open, less authoritarian internetNow that the dust from the recent U.K. parliamentary elections appears to have settled, the new Liberal Democrat/Tory coalition government has wasted no time in publicizing its new agenda. And, as ArsTechnica reports, major changes may be on the horizon.

Today, the new government issued its official unified policy statement (.PDF), which aims to reverse many of the controversial policies of the previous regime. The plan, among other things, calls for an end to the country's proposed mandatory ID card program, as well as a freeze to the next generation of biometric passports currently being developed. The coalition is also seeking tighter regulation of the CCTV network of security cameras placed throughout Britain, and has made clear its intent to outlaw fingerprinting of schoolchildren without parental consent.

The agenda also outlines potentially far-reaching policy changes for Britain's technology sector, as well. The new British government will reportedly push to "create a level playing field for open-source software, and will enable large ICT projects to be split into smaller components." Among other items on the coalition's to-do list is a proposed ban on storing e-mails and Internet records "without good reason," and an implementation of a so-called "right to data," which would ensure public access to governmental datasets. Most drastic, perhaps, is the party's goal to expand "superfast broadband" access across the country, and to distribute the program equally across remote and urban regions alike.

Obviously, we think these are all positive harbingers for a new, less overbearing British regime, and we certainly welcome the proposed measures. But the most encouraging words we've heard from the incoming party are those concerning the controversial Digital Economy Bill, which introduced tighter restrictions on Web censorship, and threatened individuals with outright disconnection for violations of copyright infringement laws. At a recent conference last weekend, coalition leaders asked parliamentary ministers to "take all possible steps to ensure the repeal of those sections of the Digital Economy Act 2010 which are inconsistent with the policy motion 'Freedom, creativity and the Internet'."

There's a big difference between stating policy objectives and actually realizing them, especially in the face of stiff political opposition. But we should all be encouraged that these ideas are at least on the table, and that our friends across the pond seem to be moving toward a freer Internet and society. [From: ArsTechnica]

Tags: britain, CCTV, CctvCamera, censorship, copyright infringement, CopyrightInfringement, england, liberal, Liberal Democrats, LiberalDemocrats, open source, OpenSource, parliament, politics, top, tory, uk, Web

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