You are here: silicon.com > Management > Law & Policy

5 years ago... MP calls for UK Net minister

Derek Wyatt: rugby player, politician.... techie?

By silicon.com

Published: 25 February 2004 17:25 GMT

25.02.99: Labour MP, Derek Wyatt is calling on the UK government to create a minister for the Internet.

At the ISPcon 99 conference in London, Wyatt, who also heads up the parliamentary all-party Internet group, spoke about the importance of ecommerce and the Internet in all types of business. But he told Silicon.com that most MPs still don't understand the implications regulation could have on the ISP industry.

Wyatt said: "What we need is a minister for the Internet, or a minister for communications, which would include the Internet. I think there is so much work going on in so many departments with IT, but we don't have a coherent strategy, and that's because we haven't got a single minister."

25.02.04: Former England rugby player Derek Wyatt MP has come in for some stick over the past five years - not least of all on the pages of silicon.com.

His attempts to force through anti-spam legislation in the UK attracted particular criticism.

Last week he was even nominated for the Internet Villain of the year gong at the Internet Service Providers Association Awards for "lowering the level of informed debate on the internet generally and spam in particular," in the words of the judges.

But while some may suspect he learned everything he knows about technology on the rugby field his bungling on tech issues is largely well-intended and he has actually done far more than many of his Westminster cronies to keep IT issues on the political agenda. For that he should be congratulated. While some MPs would possibly struggle to spell IT, Wyatt has raised issues such as rural broadband and even threw his weight behind silicon.com's Back the Act campaign in 2000.

Add comment

Print story with

Email story

The Weekly Round-Up: 20.02.04

Internet Hero and Villain honoured with gongs

Government's spam report little more than 'a childish wishlist'

MPs and industry address the spam problem

MP calls for UK Net minister

In silicon.com

Commentary

silicon.com Dear silicon.com: Tech teacher shortage, Kangaroo and phones on planes Reader Comments of the Week

Mike Barrett From CIO to consultant: Project manager or salesman? Hard lessons from the coalface…

Latest News

Reports in full: HMRC and MoD data breaches

T-Mobile UK slashes Euro data roaming costs

BCS warns over IT degree funding

Corporations riddled with security holes

Cabinet minister's laptop stolen

Stolen music still big with MP3 generation

Jobs

Service Quality & Contracts Analyst- St Davids Park, Chester, Liverpool

Act as the first point of escalation for any issues or problems raised by either the supplier or customer. Strategic Influencing - Uses strategic ...

Digital Project Manager - Temp to Perm - London - Urgent

Therefore experience of using email broadcasting platforms is highly desirable Thorough understanding of the issues affecting email deliverability, ...

Java WebSphere, North West-30,000 to 35,000

Computer Futures Solutions seeks a talented web developer for our first class client, a large software house that remains the market leader in ...

Special Report Focus

CIO50 2008
The silicon.com CIO50 2008 profiles the most influential and innovative tech chiefs in the UK across all industries and organisation size, from the biggest FTSE100 companies to high growth dot-com start ups and the public sector. The list was voted on by the UK CIO community and a panel of experts. Find out more in our latest special report.