***RESULTS OF VOTE***
TOP POLICY – The Joy of Six: An Internet of Things for All – Dan Fox
2nd Top Policy – Devoted to e-voting – Sehr Sarwar
Pragmatic Radicalism presents Top of the Policies on the Digital Revolution, Westminster
Come and present to the Labour Digital team, pre general election/manifesto:
SAVE THE DATE: joint event with Labour Digital and Pragmatic Radicalism, Top of the Policies on the Digital Revolution, Westminster
When: Tues 13 May, 6.30pm-8.30pm
Where: The Two Chairmen pub*
39 Dartmouth St, London SW1H 9BP – nearest tube St James’ Park
The event will be chaired by Lord Parry Mitchell, Chair of Labour Digital and Labour’s enterprise adviser
WE WANT YOU TO PARTICIPATE!
What happens?
Your chance to pitch a digital policy idea in just ONE minute, followed by TWO minutes of questions from the audience’s Q&A, culminating in a vote for ONE Top Policy. Policy MUST be fiscally neutral, funded and well thought out to sustain scrutiny from the floor/Chair.
To have the chance to present your 60 second policy idea on the on the day, please send it in the following format:
– Headline
– Explanation (3 sentences max)
– How you wish to be referred to on the day (ie role, organisation or union, etc)
– Twitter name/ID
Send to PragRad Chair, John Slinger john.slinger@
Refreshments kindly sponsored by 
Open to Labour members (supporters welcome).
Twitter @PragRad
#TOTPdigital
#Digital
* NOT the Two Chairmen near Trafalgar Square
TOP OF THE POLICIES IS ABOUT GIVING YOU A CHANCE TO PITCH A POLICY IDEA….
A new National Endowment for Digital Skills: Austerity isn’t the only thing happening on the high street, or to public services or jobs – we are also undergoing an unprecedented series of changes as the Digital Revolution becomes full-blown. The UK requires a massive effort to up-skill the population with the necessary digital skills so the country can manage this transition. Despite cross-party support for curriculum reform to introduce Computing and Computer Science we lack the ‘soft infrastructure’ to deliver this – we need investment in teachers, reform of FE and a radical new adult education and in-work skills offer to ensure that people aren’t left behind over the next decade. A new National Endowment for Digital Skills should be created to drive this. Cllr Theo Blackwell – Labour councillor and public policy professional // @camdentheo
National Debt is Dead: Long Live National Credit! 21st century problems cannot be solved with 20th Century solutions. Maybe financing & funding solutions lie in digital updates of protocols & instruments pre-dating modern finance capital? Chris Cook – Director, Nordic Enterprise Trust // @cjenscook
Every Town and City in the UK should become a “Croydon Tech City”: London is one of the world’s startup super innovation hubs together with San Francisco and New York its startup ecosystem has developed organically over the past 10 years and it is now starting to deliver $1bn plus start-ups, and innovation in open data and open Government. UK Local Government will not have the funding to be able to deliver services in current delivery systems it needs to pivot to use the technologies of the Startup world to deliver more services at lower cost to a Smartphone enabled population The processes underpinning this 21st Century Startup innovation system of open source Software, Human networks and Data a community based, network centric model, model of innovation should be spread to all UK towns and cities to spur Startup formation and regeneration of public and social institutions, there is no better example of this than “Croydon Tech City” http://croydontechcity.com/. Ian Dowson – “Digital Researcher and thinker” // @iand47
The Joy of Six: An Internet of Things for All: The Internet of Things, which has huge potential for innovation and wealth creation, is with us but not as widespread as it should because of the slow roll-out of Internet Protocol Version 6 (which will give us the billions of new IP addresses necessary for individual devices). UK IPv6 adoption is currently 0.22% of users or 38th in the world. It’s time to enable greater IPv6 information and training to get providers, businesses and individuals fully exploiting the Joy of Six. Dan Fox, analytical technology trainer and member of Walthamstow CLP // @campaigner
Labour can free the internet – or kill the internet: Whistleblower Edward Snowden exposed the NSA and GCHQ’s unfettered mass state surveillance of private, innocent individuals. While in the US the debate has been bipartisan and will lead to reform of intelligence gathering to respect the US constitution, here politicians have remained more guarded. If Labour cannot guarantee the security of private internet data with surveillance used only where it is necessary and proportionate, our party will help to kill off inward tech investment into the UK and stifle civil liberties. Mike Harris – Labour councillor in Lewisham Central & campaign director of Don’t Spy On Us // @mjrharris
The regulator’s code must be open: Laws are published, and available to citizens so that they know what is a crime and what a citizen’s duty is and what evidence can be presented to prove guilt. Evidence is tested in an open court, elections are counted in public. Where code is law or evidence, the code must be open. Dave Levy – Member of Lewisham Deptford CLP & Open Rights Group // @DaveLevy
Devoted to e-voting: Seamless online banking from an iPad app, tweeting in your sleep from a smartphone and getting carried away with Amazon 1-Click ordering; that’s a significant digital footprint we are leaving behind. So if the way that we live has transformed, why can’t our electoral system keep pace with its voters? E-voting, if properly protected, is ready for prime time in today’s world and we want Labour to be the party devoted to a secure, user friendly and cost effective e-voting system. Sehr Sarwar – Young Fabians// @sehris
Returns to big data should be distributed fairly: There are legitimate privacy concerns around big data. But we should also be concerned about fairly distributing the value it generates. Where, for example, data from music streaming services is mashed with customer data held by supermarkets to create richer data for the supermarket, the acts whose music is being streamed to contribute toward this richer data should be remunerated in line with the increased value to the supermarket. If we value creative industries, we cannot allow the value that they create in the big data era to be unfairly expropriated. Jonathan Todd, Chief Economist at Demos // @Jonathan_Todd
Referenda and digital democracy: The internet was once heralded as an opportunity for greater citizen involvement in governance, but nothing substantial has yet materialised. With two referenda placed on the agenda by a prime minister to suit his own political objectives, could the first substantial electronic intervention in how our democracy functions come from determining how referenda are called? Joe Williams – works in communications for a public sector trade union/member of North Croydon CLP // @earsopen
Austerity isn’t the only thing happening on the high street, or to public services or jobs – we are also undergoing an unprecedented series of changes as the Digital Revolution becomes full-blown. The UK requires a massive effort to up-skill the population with the necessary digital skills so the country can manage this transition. Despite cross-party support for curriculum reform to introduce Computing and Computer Science we lack the ‘soft infrastructure’ to deliver this – we need investment in teachers, reform of FE and a radical new adult education and in-work skills offer to ensure that people aren’t left behind over the next decade. A new National Endowment for Digital Skills should be created to drive this.