Broadband and information and communications technology issues shouldn't be ignored by policymakers.
Steven Joyce, photo Doug Sherring/HoS
There won’t be much talk about broadband and information and communications technology (ICT) policy in the coming weeks as politicians hit the campaign trail in earnest. These are seldom hot-button topics for the electorate. But the past three years have seen technology and the internet throw up some huge opportunities and challenges for governments that can’t be ignored by policymakers.
The Arab Spring revealed the real power of social media, unsettling governments wary of its ability to mobilise the masses. We’ve witnessed attempts all over the world to tame the Wild West nature of the web – most recently, the British Government’s scheme to crack down on web smut that will see customers of the UK’s four big internet providers forced to specify whether they want to view pornographic content online.
The rise of Facebook, the continuing ascent of Google and New Zealanders’ increasing comfort with online shopping have confirmed the value of the weightless economy. And just about everywhere networks are being built that will allow faster web access, more content to be delivered, a more plugged-in life for all of us.
Last week’s InternetNZ debate in Wellington, then, was a useful opportunity to see what’s preoccupying the politicians shouldering the ICT portfolio. For Communications and Information Technology Minister Steven Joyce, it’s the $1.5 billion ultra-fast broadband network roll-out that over the next 10 years will deliver fibre cables to the doors of businesses, hospitals, schools and homes over much of the country. For a former businessman and free-marketeer like Joyce, this represents a huge intervention. Labour and National have clashed over virtually every aspect of the broadband scheme, although Labour’s ICT spokeswoman, Clare Curran, has landed few blows on Joyce this year.
That’s because everyone generally accepts the need for better communications infrastructure, and the market wasn’t delivering it fast enough. Less clear is what exactly we are going to use the high-speed pipes for. Where’s the content going to come from? In the spirit of a debate centred around the internet, I lobbed a rather pointed question at the minister via Twitter – even though I was sitting only metres from him: “Joyce – what are you doing to encourage services like Hulu, iPlayer, Netflix to set up in NZ? What’s the hold-up??”
Ultra-fast broadband will change all of that, Joyce said. Build it and they will come. Someone mentioned the dominance of Sky TV, which has most of the good international content sewn up.
Curran seized on this, accusing Joyce of missing the importance of the convergence between technology and broadcasting. Joyce responded: “You are going to get democratisation of video content in a way you haven’t had previously.” In other words, Sky’s days as content king may be numbered when the fibre network arrives. But it’s not really that simple. An ominous sign is the failure of TVNZ’s TiVo TV and video on demand service to take off. It just hasn’t got the content. Sky does, and it is already venturing online.
Other issues simmer away, threatening to overflow at any minute. The entertainment industry has so far abstained from using the new anti-piracy provisions of the Copyright Act to go after those downloading movies and music for free via file-sharing networks. But internet providers tell me their customers haven’t changed their behaviour – the illegal free-for-all continues. It’s yet to be seen whether the legislation will have any impact. Greens ICT spokesman Gareth Hughes said the party wants to have another crack at copyright law – the provision that allows for a repeat offender’s internet connection to be terminated rankles those on the left.
There are lingering concerns about the “digital divide”, with Labour alleging the rural sector has received a raw deal in the Government’s broadband plan. Many rural users will be served broadband from mobile-phone towers as part of the Rural Broadband Initiative. But the access speeds will lag what those in urban areas enjoy, at least until fourth-generation mobile services are introduced.
At the debate, Joyce seemed slightly disengaged, browsing alternatively his BlackBerry and iPhone as the other politicians outlined ICT policies that ranged from completely hands-off (Act) to making internet access a basic human right (Greens). He’s not passionate about technology in the way his rivals in Parliament are. The fibre network is his baby, and I suspect he intends it to be his legacy. What we do with it he seems less interested in. Which suggests he’s either incredibly focused on the job at hand or missing the point entirely.
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