Privacy report now online...

here....

Why I can't recommend BT Vision

I signed up to BT Vision in April this year, after being offered a deal as a longstanding BT customer. However I'm very disappointed.

The programme takes at least three minutes to load every time you switch the TV on - it's like going back to the 1970s waiting for a TV to warm up.

And it has when recording two half hour programmes on the run recorded 3 x 20 minute bursts instead and sometimes lost sound altogether (curiously always on ITV).

On catch-up TV only BBC is free, ITV and C4 you have to pay for.

The saleswoman who signed me up also neglected to set up the direct debit which meant I got stung for a bill of £60 (the processing fee was later refunded by BT after I complained). 

All in all it has not been a pleasant experience.

BT refuses to cancel my 12 month contract on the grounds that a) the saleswoman did not mention catch-up TV in the call and b) I can get some service on BT Vision therefore it can't be cancelled on the grounds I get no service at all.

I'm sure they are absolutely correct that I cannot cancel BT Vision under the wording of my contract. But given the difficulties I've had with the service, the frustrations of getting it to work and failing, I'm afraid that I can't recommend it to anyone else.

Going public on privacy - ET and sadomasochism

So today after a year in the writing, the report that I wrote with Stephen Whittle is finally published by the Reuters Institute, in which we argue that privacy has been fundamentally changed by the net, that there needs to be a stronger definition of public interest and that the PCC should be brought into line with Ofcom. There is a piece in Media Guardian today focusing mainly on the aftermath of the News of the World hacking story and we also made Reuters, Press Gazette, and PA in which I am quoted as follows....

"The person who believes in flying saucers or is conducting a sado-masochistic relationship may be a council officer or a department store manager. But this cannot be presumed to affect their behaviour in their job.

"There is no prima facie public interest in extra-terrestrial believers or in sado-masochists."

So there you have it.

There is an event to launch the report later in the month at the Frontline Club where various luminaries will be assembled.....see here

Blog off?

Charles Arthur on how the long tail of blogging is dying....

Certainly that seems to be true. It's much easier to tweet than commit to a blog unless you've got something that has to be said in depth. 

Meanwhile John Naughton is more optimistic for print journalists.....

Twitter vs CNN

Interesting piece from the Telegraph looking at news out of Iran and the pluses/minuses of citizen journalism...

Gordon Brown: the internet is changing foreign policy

In an interview with the Guardian, the PM says that foreign policy can no longer be down to a few elites as the Twitter revolution in Iran has shown over the past few days....

In regards to humanitarian crises he claims:

"You cannot have Rwanda again because information would come out far more quickly about what is actually going on and the public opinion would grow to the point where action would need to be taken.

"Foreign policy can no longer be the province of just a few elites."

I'll be interested to see if that is correct; the cynical would say Sri Lanka, Darfur etc have still happened despite the growth of the world wide web.

In other news Google and Facebook are rolling out Farsi services in the aftermath of Iran

The revolution will not be televised....

it will be coming to you via YouTube, Flickr and mobile phones....

See BBC story here

Plus see Guardian story here