Author: Ianforrester

Senior firestarter at BBC R&D, emergent technology expert and serial social geek event organiser. Can be found at cubicgarden@mas.to, cubicgarden@twit.social and cubicgarden@blacktwitter.io

Thank you part 2

Thank you to the whole of the ICU ward including Nicole, Sarah and Shelly who looked after me while I was in ICU (say my parents because I was obviously sleeping) They explained to my parents exactly what was going on and with such compassion plus they sympathize with there position unlike nurses later on the stroke ward. I was out of it but you made a dent in my parents memory that they remember you all. But I would be wrong to just rule out all the nurses on the stroke ward, there were some good apples mixed in with the bad ones. Ginger was great, there was also a bunch of male nurses which were excellent and ever so witty. I will never forget the male nurse who ran half way to somewhere to get my pills for the last night. He was totally out of breath by the time he returned. Oh and how could I forget the dinner ladies, good fun and always got a hi from them.

Thanks to everyone who wrote to me on Facebook, you all know how much I hate facebook but these were worthy of a mention and a thanks.

Claire Phillips (sorry for the scare, hope it didn’t ruin your holiday in vegas), Waheed Rehman (we need to go to a real imax soon, no better place that manchester), Matt Pass (sorry for not being in touch, my parents moved from Fishponds to whirl near weston), Tim Cowlishaw, Jennifer O’Grady (I don’t think I’ll be going for a drink anytime soon sorry), Louise Ferguson, Frank Wales, Imran Ali (Not quite marked all as read and delete but almost), Tasha Fear (thanks!), Gia Milinovich, the mythical dot (good to hear from you), Marissa Mulvena (newcastle will have to wait sorry), Tim Cowlishaw, Anders Lewis, Vikki Leaney, Ivan Pope, Kate Norman, Tom Leitch, Sarah Khan-Wuttka (you have two children now?), deena denaro-bickerstaffe, eileen jones, sheila farrell, ryan alexander, Ashley Angail,, Tim dobson (again), dave crossland, deborah cawkwell, Joanna Rodriguez, Herb Kim, and Stephanie Kit Kat Lease, Maz Hardey (yes theres more that lost but lost was extremely good TV, better that the average american stuff), Roberto Beto, Ann Michael,
Of course I forgot to look at my private twitter messages, so thanks to @Fidothe, @leeky, @imran (didn’t know you did a shout out to me at ignite, thanks! would have preferred to have been there), @kidhelios, @mike_lott, @vickyjo (thanks for the hugs) @sheiliaellen (again and thanks for visiting me). Those on Identica also get a mention too. @rajmarshall, @methoddan.
Thanks to everyone who sent me a card incluing Amy, Claire,  Paul & Ann, Birch and Suzie (all the way from the states) Paul Chessbrough and the telegraph dev team, Chris Tasha and family, Antie Melrose, Antie Kathleen, Uncle danny, Cousin Patrick. My old Neighbours in Lodge Causeway, Kellie Hancock, Waheed, Most of Worldservice new media, Suw and Kevin, Herm B + Tom (thanks for the magazine), the rest of World service new new media, Interaction 05 (the last class I taught before leaving Ravensbourne), everyone at Clearleft, dave crossland with the biggest card of them all, Jo and family, david marks (thanks for the pages), Bryan and Michaela (not seen you guys in ages hope your well), Rain, Beryl + Lockley + debbie + tony + amanda + lewis, Social media cafe manchester, deslyn and mike. Suw & Kevin,  Waheed, Kelly hancock, my old neighbours from lodge causeway, Antie Melrose + Patrick + Uncle danny + antie Kathleen, Paul + Ann Ross’s parents, Birch + Suzie (all the way from america believe it or not), Chris + Tasha, + family, Waheed
And I came home today to find even more cards that my parents kept for me because it would have caused a problem having so many cards at the hospital.
Carl (germany), Sarah + Steve, lucy briges, Emily, Anty Halline + family, melrose + patick,, megan + billy (home made card from the kids awwwww), bert + joen, harry + tiffany (thanks for the snippits of news, really helped in ICU), Adam + Helen, dj adams (@qmacro), Rachael Neagle + Neil, Oli (@cdddimate) (nice to hear you bashing out some trance), Marissa + @herbkim, rachel, Samantha, the project north team at work, tim + funmi + andre, + Otis (Otis? Really another little one?). Andrew + Kerry from geekup, Glyn + Sheila from London, BBC r&d, Nicky Smyth + Sal (work mates), Adia & Amari (cousin), Ross + Carley + Megan + Billy (how many more times shall I thank them).
Most of the people I know at BBC Manchester including derek, andras, Toni, Bruce, Binh, Kev, Nik, Paul, Matt, Andy, Leanne, Alice, Angus, Tony, Minesy, Heather, Paul (and more), Alphonsa, Andras.  Laura, Jon Paul and Geeks of the world! (can’t work out who this one came from but its a touching end to the long list).
Told you my memory isn’t so great, I almost forgot the caring bridge site,  which my ex-wife sarah helped setup with help from my sister and mother (the mystery blogger, wasn’t she good?)
Trish Veale (Hanrahan), Rachael Neagle, Mike Lott (Singapore), Kellie Thatcher, Mo McRoberts, Pauline Randall, carl rauth (germany), Maz Hardey, Funmi Alexander (how many kids do you have now), Antie Millicent (thank the lord, Jamaica), Waheed Rehman, Samantha Chadwick (nice story about thick and easy), Bruce Weir (lost was good and you know it), Vanessa Westwood, Rachael Neagle (facebook still sucks), Jason Legget, Glen Ford, Steve J, Sheila Thomson (thanks for visiting me again), Jay Caines-Gooby (a what plot?), John Dodds, Bahi P (yep I really put my personally in those posts), Lucas Gramajo (Toronto), Trish Veale (Hanrahan), Deena DeNaro-Bickerstaffe, Carley & Ross (again), Stephen Knights (6k gosh really!), Kellie Thatcher, Herb Kim, Andy Goodwin, Brian Butterworth, Dave Brooks, Kat Pattison (still hope to make that box), Melinda & Cristiano (my newsreader certainly kept me busy for a while), Hayley Showering, Sarah blow & Steve, Rick Curran, Ben Metcalfe, Sarah Wuttke (baby zac?), Peter Mills, Deena DeNaro-Bickerstaffe, Peter Schübel, Chilon Forrester (new york), Cristiano & Melinda, Dan Lynch, vanessa westwood, Sandra Haines (antie), Kellie Thatcher, Brendan Quinn, Nigel Crawley, Mark Tanner, Vikki Leaney (you got married), Simon Alexander, Justin Souter, Lisa Connolly (would you have come to manchester?), Dave Brooks (New Haven, CT, USA), Lola White (Jamaica),  Melrose forrester (antie), Harry Lo (Pepsi is better, Hong Kong SAR China), Dan Oliver (.net magazine), Jack Murray (enjoyed media 2020), Sabina Bhugun, Rachael Neagle (more cryptic status to come), Dave Mee, Chi-chi Ekweozor, Nisha Ray, richard Tank (sorry to hear about your dad), carl rauth (Switzerland), Hemmy Cho, Ross Michael, Ant Miller, Philip Trippenbach, Matt Locke, Bruce Weir, Rowan de Pomerai (the iphone put me in hospital), Marc Price, Sarah Blow, Samantha Chadwick, Julian Tait, Pukul Rana, Rachael Turner, Pauline Randall, Delia Stearnes, Bahi P, Herb Kim, Thelma Jones (racine, USA, sarahs mum), Jon Jacob, Farooq Ansari, David Marks, Harold Cattron, and Sheila Farrell.
If I missed you in either thank you’s, I’m very sorry I only checked a few places and couldn’t put down all the text messages, emails and voicemails I got over the last few weeks. The cards were slightly special because the nurses and my parents was able to read them out to me when I was sleeping.
I want everyone to know this is a very serious condition but I’m doing alright now. I do have memory lost which is really ignoying but I honestly its not that bad (only forget the rarest things like ex-girlfriends names – whoops!). It could have been a hell of a lot worst.
People have been asking me could it happen again? No honestly it can’t. Why do I know? It was all down to the amount of work and the fact that I have High Blood Pressure but never did anything about it. Hence the bleed in the brain which was the brain releasing some pressure. However this manfest its self with a bleed on the brain which is deeply worrying. So as I said I could have been a veggie with a ventilator for company but I got away lightly with some memory lost and a slightly weak body. The body will get stronger and my brain will fill in the things I can’t remember. Generally I think I got away with murder. People still can’t believe the time to recovery from waking up to being ready to leave (about a week or so) I was in hospital for about 3 weeks before that. A very short period of time going by what the nurses was saying to my parents.
So I’m one of the lucky ones and I know it. Thanks to everyone and I really mean it… I might not have been here if it wasn’t for the great thinking of a few people and the contuning support of people around me like the ones mentioned above and in part 1.
People always ask me what I remember, so here’s what I remember
The only thing I really remember about that time was waking up on Saturday when the cleaner was banging on the door trying to get in on Saturday morning to clean the flat. I woke up and thought Tim will wake up and let her in because I got a headache and couldn’t be frankly be bothered to get up and let her in. That was the last thing I remember, I don’t remember anything else till I woke up in hospital with my parents and sister standing over me. My mums voice willing me to open my eyes. I don’t remember going for a meal or anything like what happened in my bathroom let alone my bedroom. I don’t remember going for a meal or eating hob nobs or anything, the whole time from the UK elections to a week ago is blank. I’m surprised the iphone 4 came out today, before this all happened gizmodo just landed a scoop of the year finding a iphone4 in a bar
Thank you to you all…from the very bottom of my heart….

Thank you part 1

Thanks to everyone

I want to thank from the very bottom of my heart everyone that was involved in my recovery. It was a very scary time for everyone involved and the bleed in my head has left me with a little memory lost and a little weak but I’m mainly ok. It could have been a lot worst, I could have ended up not remembering anything or even a vegetable from the bleed in my head.

In my time in hospital I had a lot of time to think about things and what I had done with my life up till now. I’d not done too bad specially after looking at the support I was getting from cards, visits, twitter, etc. I’m proud to have touched so many of your lifes, and you all remember.

So although I will thank everyone theres a few people I owe my life to, and thats not me being over dramatic its the truth almost no matter how you look at it.

First my mum for her strength of character never giving up on me no matter what happened or what I did. She travelled up from Bristol to Manchester a lot and stayed in hotels and a strange flat with my flat mate. She was amazing and did everything in her power to aid my recovery. Travelling up and down has made her even more independent and I love her for it. Theres nothing like waking up in hospital with your mum hovering above you calling your name. She was excellent at the hospital when complaining and when trying to find out what’s happening.

My dad wasn’t up as much but was there in spirit. He cried a lot for me and wished for my health unfortunately he had to deal with sale of the family house and moving everything pretty much himself. So although not always by my bed he was keeping everything on track in the background. This meant my mum could focus on me while my dad kept things ticking along in the background.

My Sister for lending my mum the money to make the trips up to Manchester but also making multiple trips to be by my and my mum side. Its a long trip from South London and she was up and down like a yoyo. I know we haven’t been that close in the past but we will be in the future. I remember her smiley face standing over me when I finally woke up. And I’m sorry for slagging off her little system for communicating with people when you can’t talk. I only slag it off because you can never hope to capture all the unique things about a language. Which makes it hard to communicate still.

Sarah (my ex-wife) for looking out for my mum in her moment of need. Not only was she the brains behind the caringbridge site but also she printed stuff out and took my verbal blog posts when I couldn’t blog. She also brought me lost and flash forward which was great. No certainly out did herself and made me proud to have married her all that time ago. I’m glad shes now found someone who will make her truly happy but this experience has certaitly brought us closer together after a very nasty diviroce over a year ago. She is now a close friend that I hold in high regard.

Ross and Carley, What more could I ask of friends? You both certaily stepped up to the plate and made me feel a lot more at home. I remember laughing for the first time with Ross and how much it hurt with the venterlator still inside. However I couldn’t help but laugh because it was great having them at my bedside. Hopefully the trip and funky hotels you had to stay in was worth the hassle. If anything ever was to happen to the kids I’d be there like a shot, of course hoping nothing ever does.

@tdobson thanks for looking out for me, I know it took a while to get me out of the house and to the hospital. I know its odd because I’m the older and should be looking out for you and all that but you did roughly the right thing. You may have saved my life.

@adew for taking me to hospital in the end. He cleverly dropped in hints about going to hospital and not being very well but still slight off my usual form, I let him drive me to hospital where they thought I had meningitis! To be fair they weren’t to know I had a bleed on the brain which was slowly affecting my judgement, balance and general function. Like wise you may have saved my life.

Thanks for all the twitters

@surial, @kevglobal, @billt, @tomcoates, @mario, @girlygeekdom (sorry I couldn’t see you when you were up, it just wasn’t the right time)‎, @rainycat (and thanks for the cd, which I enjoyed), @billt, @loudmouthman, @Cordobo, @ssethi, @tommorris, @nicferrier (I’ll loved to be in techgrumps, could moan about apple all day), @psd, @thinkingdigital, @jas (yeah excellent to see my email in @wireduk even if it was edited down. @anniemole, @freecloud, @thinkingdigital, @anniemole, @freecloud, @ssethi, @libbymiller, @smc_mcr (thanks again for the Yamaha Tenori-O I used it a bit but not much), @rachelclarke, @stevieflow, @herbkim (thanks for the very moving tribute, when they told me I was seriously shocked, I also haven’t forgotten the offer of the meal, but maybe when I’m a little better), @jeniT, @philhawksworth (lost out of order not the best idea agreed), @anniemole, @richquick (werewolf lose on the island really?) @imran (now you’re like me, nice!) @jonthebeef, @sicross, @adactio (and thanks again for the message from An event apart in Boston, amazing to see and hear), @tomscott, @freecloud interesting study., @matlock, @dotdean, @cbgreenwood, @stevecla, @kevinprice, @nevali, @reyes, @nickycast, @paolability, @tonychurnside, @si_lumb (see you on xbox live soon), @rajm, @ruby_gem, @rnalexander, @franticuk, @davemee, @nickycast, @defnetmedia, @meeware (thanks for coming up and seeing me in hospital and seeing me in weston as well as taking over the backstage blog/mailinglist while I am away), @defnetmedia, @nevali, @coralgrainger, @insidethem60, @oonagh_j, @adew (thanks for everything again, I won’t be in work for some time as you can imagine), @souterconsults, @sheilaellen (thanks for visiting me and showing me i can leave the ward without telling anyone, still got your money), @davecoveney, @methodan, @richardhudson, @suw (sorry to drop the ball in the middle of the project, but I got a good excuse), @brianamc, @realfreshtv, @jemimakiss (thanks for the words on twitter), @mamk, @matthewcashmore, @mamk, @davelynch, @mamk, @_richardg, @cbetta (I wasn’t in a coma) , @davelynch, @mario, @kevglobal, @davecoveney, @methoddan, @richardhudson, @methoddan, @davecovenery, @souterc, @oonagh_j, @coralgrainger, @defnetmedia, @tdobson (and thanks for everything as mentioned before), @gezd, @vivdora, @ocenician (series of spanish art?), @mmetcalfe (i didn’t expect you to be watching lost), @tbush, @sofia, @doctoe (hope you are well), @billt (not much I can do about being in London in September sorry. @foodiesarah, @meeware, @mamk, @soullastylianou, @ignesco, @sdn_photography, @ignesco, @rarepleasures, @fcw, @matt512, @stephenknights, @markng (thanks for the sweet words), @jot, @jaggeree, @_richardg, @cordobo, @Sdn_Photography, @rajmarshall. And to everyone else who wrote in sent me a card (I will write a special thank you post just for the cards when I get back to Manchester). If your name isn’t in the list above fear not, its simply because I didn’t see your post on twitter for what ever reason. This could be because twitter doesn’t go that far back in history or because it simply was missed by me and google’s cache. I know a lot of people also wrote to me personally via email as they didn’t want to write something public, thank you to all of them.

Thanks to everyone

A few noticeable recent changes

Islington Wharf

One step closer to moving to Islington Wharf, now I actually have a deposit down on the flat I wanted. I’m just waiting on Plumlife to agree I’m able to join there scheme (which was ok last year, so not expecting any upset) and then I can apply for the mortgage (which shouldn’t be a problem this time due to the highly motivated mortgage advisor I got). After which I should be able to get everything going and maybe move next month or so.

On the computer front, I just upgraded my Dell Laptop from a 120gig to 320gig and then gave it a brand new Ubuntu install. Not only did I upgrade it but I also switched to the i86_64 version as my laptop runs a Intel Core 2 duo 2 chipset. No idea why I’ve never done it before but early indication says so far the resource control over the applications and switching is much better and I’m shocked at how smooth things are. Don’t get me wrong the x86 version was fine but there is certainly something extra about the 64bit version.  What is strange is the amount of memory available to the machine, it still indicates there is about 3gig of memory available (3262meg) not the full 4gig. I also have a couple of problems with getting Dropbox and XBMC working. Plus settings for Firefox, evolution and gnome wifi networking didn’t transfer over so well. Which is a pain. I can still boot into my old 32bit partition using a usb enclosure which means if I knew where the correct files were I could drag them over easily enough.

Finally Orange are being a pain in the ass and I can’t now upgrade my phone till August, which means the HTC Desire isn’t the phone it is now. Even the HTC Incredible will be old news. Maybe the Dell Lightning and Mini5’s will be of interest? Anyway in the meanwhile, it seems Android running on the HTC Touch HD or Blackstone has progressed to a point where the screen does not always stay on and so the battery doesn’t die within a few hours. Actually if you turn off Wifi, it will last a day which isn’t bad. So most of the time I’ll have my phone running Android in the near future. I just need to get the settings for 3G/HSDPA and work out how to divert the sound to the headphones instead to the loudspeaker.

Playing with the ipad my thoughts

Ipad

So while in Ireland for Media 2020, I got to play with a couple of people’s iPads. Now you all know I’m not a fan but these are my honest thoughts while playing with it.

Its bloody heavy, I expected it to be much lighter. When you use two hands its ok but I can see why people end up resting it against something for a while. The screen is vivid but you can see the pixels easily and even worst with apps which are blownup using x2 option. Reading an actually ebook was disappointing and felt like readiing from my on laptop. Adjusting the backlight down helped but no where near the ease of eink.

Why is it curve on the back? It seems to make even hard to hold and its not helped by the shiny back. I really would not want to carry this in a crowd in fear of it slipping out of your hand due nudges and the usual human traffic or if someone really wanting to nick it off you. Talking of which, what on earth kind of glass screen tech are they using? It picks up greasy finger prints in seconds. Not good.

Finally I thought it was meant to be slightly bigger that my Sony Ebook reader, no actually its exactly the size of two of my sony ereaders side by side. Which says to me its far too big. One of the people who had bought one had a special rubber case which i guess helps it stay clean but geez its ugly. Obviously not designed by Jon Ive.

The inhert flaw with paying for dating sites

OkCupid has another excellent break down of dating sites, this time its showing how the business models of eHarmony, Match.com and others are conflicting with users finding each other on the site.

If you’ve ever joined a paid for site or even interacted with one in anyway, you will instantly recognise this problem, and this is just the start of the problems.

Pay Sites Want You To Message These Dead Profiles

As you can see from the flow chart, the only way they don’t make money is to show subscribers to other subscribers. It’s the worst thing they can do for their business, because there’s no potential for new profit growth there. Remember: the average account length is just six months, and people join for big blocks of time at once, so getting a new customer on board is better for them than eking another month or two out of a current subscriber. To get sign-ups, they need to pull in new people, and they do this by getting you to message their prospects.

If you’re a subscriber to a pay dating site, you are an important (though unwitting) part of that site’s customer acquisition team. Of course, they don’t want to show you too many ghosts, because you’ll get frustrated and quit, but that doesn’t change the fact that they’re relying on you your messages are their marketing materials to reach out to non-payers and convince them, by way of your charming, heartfelt messages, to pull out their credit cards. If only a tiny fraction of your message gets a response, hey, that’s okay, you’re working for free. Wait a second…you’re paying them.

There is a nasty speed dating service which I used once, which adds its results to a paid for dating service. Luckily everyone who was at the event could message each other if they both gave each other ticks in the speed dating section but you would also get loads of messages from people who were paid for members, so you couldn’t read the actual message. Of course most of the actual messages would be from spammers. Weirdly, I’ve gotten more spam from the paid for services that the free one. Maybe another investigation for OKTrends?

Refreshing my laptop

Ubuntu 10.04 is only a few days away and I’ve decided to do a complete new install of my laptop. First thing I want t do is replace the 120gig Hard drive with a nice new 320gig Hard drive. 2.5 inch notebook drives have really come down in price and to be honest I tend to low on space all the time. Usually I just shift stuff around but what I noticed was that I didn’t make full use of virtual machines because of the space.

I however wonder if I should make the switch to the 64bit version of Ubuntu but I’m worries about apps like Skype, Hamachi, Java and maybe XBMC/Boxee. I’ve had 4gig of memory for ages and been restricted to 3267meg for ages. There must be more advantages to 64bit processing that just more memory allocation I’m sure. I was thinking if worst came to worst, I could just run Ubuntu 64bit an 32bit side by side, I mean I’ll have the space to do it plus I could maybe even share the home directory to ensure consistency between the platforms?

Ok I was never going to be happy reading the Wired top 100

Top 100

The Wired 100: Positions 10 to 1

The Wired 100: Positions 11 to 50

The Wired 100: Positions 50 to 100

But I almost threw my ereader across the hotel restaurant table this morning when I read through the wired 100 list.

Who are the influential people in the digital economy who can make things happen? Who are the designers, innovators, investors and creatives with the power to touch the rest of us?

I later in the day showed Sheila and she counted how many woman had made the list. Not many as you can imagine but I noticed something even more alarming. There are no woman in the top 10 at all. Its not till you get to 11 which Martha Lane Fox occupies before you start to a lot more woman.

I was also trying to work out the bias toward the South East of the country (aka London). Don’t get me wrong a lot of the firms are based in London or the South East, so it makes sense but I’m having a really hard time working out any Northern entries which are not games related. This tells me that Wired magazine needs to spend more time looking at the rest of the country for those pockets of innovation.

One person who I was certainly would be in the list was Herb Kim.

Not only is this guy CEO of the hugely successful Codeworks, the mastermind behind the closest thing to TED and Pop!Tech we got in the UK, Thinking Digital but he was the driving force behind the collaboration of TEDxNorth. He also took up the challenge and did all this in the North east, which if you believe some people is only known for Games, coalmines and football. The guy from Brooklyn has done some amazing things and can usually be found either in the company of some of the greatest thinkers, in a TED conference or zipping back and forth between Liverpool and Newcastle.

The fact he’s not even on the list is shameful, he should be floating around the 25 marker for sure. Wired editors are certainly overpromote alot of no-hoper in this list. I won’t say there names but theres a lot of people who have gotten into positions which are high but not really done much. In my book thats no good. You can be the head of whatever but if your just riding out time, you shouldn’t be on this list. There’s plenty of people who deserve to be on the list and are not.

My ISP’s Response to the Digital Economy Act

My ISP is UKFSN and there the small kind of ISP which you use to get years ago. They don’t like restricting there customers and they hate things like Phorm and other content interception. So what do they make of the DBill?

Recently the UK government pushed through new legislation aimed to address many aspect of the “digital economy”.

Much of the Act is reasonable and needed to ensure that things like the rollout of digital television and radio services can be accomplished properly. The Act also included various measures to do with the Internet that were not well considered and were certainly not properly debated by Parliament and which have attracted much comment from many different parts of society. As an ISP our position on the Act is limited to the parts that relate to the Internet and the operation of Internet Service Providers, including UKFSN.

The Act seeks to implement measures to protect the rights of copyright holders from unauthorised copying and distribution of the works on which they hold copyright. This is a worthwhile aim however the Act has failed to accomplish what is set out to do for a number of reasons. Firstly the Act is clearly written by people who simply do not understand the Internet and how it is used. This shows in a number of ways but primarily in the manner in which the Act seeks to make ISPs and other network operators responsible to prevent copyright infringement and to act as enforcers for the civil rights of others completely bypassing the courts. This is a serious abuse and is, I believe, a prima facie breach of the Human Rights Act in that it removes the protection of the courts from those accused of unlawful activity.

All ISPs and network operators are bound to operate within and to obey the law. This applies to all laws including the Digital Rights Act. This means that we are obliged to act in response to a valid copyright infringement notice or a valid requirement to block access to a site and we will comply with any such valid requirement. Note that I have emphasised valid. The Act states a number of things that will be necessary for such a report or request to be valid. The most important one of these for copyright infringement notices is that we must act in response to a valid notice from the copyright holder or their authorised agent. In order to comply with this requirement we will need anyone who sends such a report to have registered their copyright in a recognised database to which we have free access and to have registered details of any and all agents who are authorised to make such notice reports to us. Further we will need a means of assuring that any notice or report we receive is really from the registered copyright holder or agent – this means they will need to implement a recognised and reliable digital signature system which we can verify. We simply cannot comply with the Act without this.

The Act specifies that copyright holders and ISPs must share the cost of any systems needed to implement the Act. I strongly believe that, as the only beneficiaries of the Act are copyright holders, they should be the ones to bear the cost. I propose that ISPs implement a system such as I have outlined above and charge copyright holders a very smallannual fee to register each copyright and each agency. This will help to prevent the Act’s requirement on ISPs to act in response to infringement notices from becoming a means for anyone to implement a massive denial of service attack.

I have already had some discussion with other ISPs about this and these ideas are being actively pursued. As things become clearer I will make further statements.

If your ISP isn’t standing against the Digital Rights Act, you really should consider moving to another one and support them.