The interim report on Britain’s digital future is out today, and amongst other things, it promises that all homes in the UK will have broadband by 2012.
While the report called for everyone in the UK to have access to a broadband speed of up to two megabits per second (Mbps), a closer examination shows that this is only at points where the total cost is under £3,800, with the householder having to pick up the excess.
The report by Lord Carter has already come under fire from both sides as well as the ISPs (Internet Service Providers), but the report itself is available here.
Included is Tanya Byron’s report on “Safer Children in a Digital World”, which details some of the more controversial methods of tackling “unsafe websites,” including a similar idea to the Irish, although that has already come under fire. Her view that retailers who sell to underage gamers should face a prison sentence has been said to be “plain wrong”.
Having read through the report this morning, there are a lot of promises but a disturbing lack of concrete ideas, but as Prime Minister Gordon Brown says, “Today we have an interim report from Lord Carter setting out the scale of our ambition to compete in the digital economy and that’s a market worth about £50 billion a year.”
