Unpleasant EU move on encryption

[Alan Burkitt-Gray]

Geoffrey Leeming wrote:
>Seeing as the deadlines for objections are reasonably close (March 18th is
the first
>deadline), who is going to voice an objection?
>
>Is it worth attempting to interest the media in this?  Crypto may be too
>technical a subject for most broadcasters, but "EU outlaws Mathematicians"
>would make a nice headline!  If this is a Murdoch-sponsored amendment as
>Ross implies, the various members of the anti-Murdoch media (Guardian &
>BBC immediately spring to mind) might be interested in having a pop.
>
No, as a journalist I can promise that "EU outlaws mathematicians" would not
make a good headline. No one in the general media cares much about
mathematicians, except when they solve ancient theorems that most of us
don't understand anyway. If you want to stir up interest you have to find
something that will interest the public, or a section of the public
(preferably influential). 
That means moving away from saying this law will stop people receiving
digital TV without paying. Most people who want to receive subscription TV
(me included) pay for it, just like we pay phone bills and our ISPs. (And
remember that the BBC also has an interest in stopping people receiving its
digital TV signals without paying or in territories it wants to block. So
the BBC's media correspondents might find it difficult to rock the corporate
boat too hard.)
You need to find a good old "economic harm" argument: hitting the future
commercial development of the information superwotsit, that sort of thing.
The Murdoch twist is a good one, but it's only an ironic twist in the intro:
"Legislation designed to stop people receiving digital Sky without paying
could hit Europe's lead in electronic commerce..." is the sort of thing
that'll get pro-e-commerce MPs and Lords interested.
Government Computing, an independent (not Govt-owned or controlled) monthly
magazine that I edit, will probably carry something in the next issue: I was
planning to do something about digital TV, ho ho, in the next issue -
looking at how it could be used to deliver public services via Internet
access, etc. However e-commerce and digiital TV are sidelines for us,
really, and you might be best advised to try Barry Fox at New Scientist, who
has been following the digital TV story closely. He is good for taking
appropriate aims at corporate giants and picking up odd twists and turns. As
a freelance rather than a staff member he also writes for a wide range of
other outlets. New Scientist is read widely by MPs and other "opinion
formers", and has a good record of having stories picked up by the rest of
the media.
Alan Burkitt-Gray
Editor
Government Computing
alan@kable.co.uk






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ALAN BURKITT-GRAY, Editor
Government Computing
The independent magazine about information age public service, 
for the people who are going to make it happen
Next issue: April 1998, despatched Wednesday 25 March
Published by Kable Ltd, 
The Courtyard, 55 Charterhouse Street, London EC1M 6HA, UK
tel 0171 608 0900; fax 0171 608 0916
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e-mail alan@kable.co.uk