Digital services after Brexit
techUK’s Head of Policy for Brexit, Giles Derrington, gave evidence at the Exiting the European Union Committee, earlier this week.
Following the presentation of Britain’s Brexit White Paper, earlier this month, Derrington called for more clarity regarding the future of digital services after Brexit.
He said: “For goods, I know the day after Brexit, broadly speaking, will be the same, for services I know that some rules will be the same and some rules will be different. However; I don’t know which ones are which, that makes it impossible to plan for what things might look like.”
>See also: Will UK lose global business and tech leader status post-Brexit?
For Derrington, the tech sector would welcome similar trade-offs to the ones proposed for goods, i.e., agreeing to EU rules in return for access.
He also made the point that he struggles to see the benefits of flexibility or being able to diverge from EU rules.
He said: “We already have GDPR; we’re going to have ePrivacy after we’ve left, for us on those things it is far better to have some level of regulatory influence because we will have to comply to them anyway.”
>Read more: Brexit White Paper: TechUK calls for clarity on digital services
Facebook’s Q2 earnings
This week there have numerous announcements of earnings from a whole host of companies, including social media giants Facebook, last Wednesday, and Twitter, later today.
For Facebook, it looks like their share of privacy scandals have finally caught up with them as their value dropped down more than $100 billion, on Thursday – the largest single-day drop in value in Wall Street history.
Facebook also warned revenue growth rates would decelerate in Q3 and Q4.
According to some analysts, the fall in their shares is down to social media reaching its peak.
However, this view is not shared by all.
>See also: How the enterprises have embraced social media
Ken Wisnefski, CEO and founder of digital marketing agency WebiMax, said: “I strongly disagree with the analysts. While Facebook’s growth slowed a little bit last quarter – and some of that may have indeed been related to the scandal – it’s important to note that marketers at WebiMax have been caution with expanding budgets on platforms where there was always some uncertainty surrounding the changes that could be forthcoming.”
Indeed, It wasn’t all bad news for Facebook, their platform, Instagram reached a milestone of one billion active users.
Facebook’s CEO, Mark Zuckerberg, said: “We believe Instagram has been able to use Facebook’s infrastructure to grow more than twice as quickly as it would have on its own,”
“I’m really excited about video too, and this quarter we launched IGTV.”
“People are watching less TV but more video, but most video is not yet optimised for mobile. IGTV will help solve that problem.”
As for Twitter, who have also had their share of scandals, we will have to wait and see.
>Read more: Facebook and Twitter: Will fake news and privacy scandals reflect in
UK-wide full-fibre broadband coverage by 2033
Earlier this week in the UK, the Department for Digital, Culture, Media and Sport announced the there will be country-wide full-fibre broadband coverage by 2033.
As part of the Government’s new national telecoms strategy, new homes must be fit with full-fibre broadband.
DCMS Secretary Jeremy Wright, said: “We want everyone in the UK to benefit from world-class connectivity, no matter where they live, work or travel.”
The announced was welcomed by many. However, some expressed concerns over its price, given how it will need an additional £3-£5 billion if full-fibre broadband is to reach rural areas.
Evan Dixon, CEO of Viasat Inc., said: “We need a mix of technology to connect people now, or we risk showing off our full-fibre network in 15 years’ time when other countries may have already taken the next leap ahead.”
>Read more: UK-wide full-fibre broadband coverage by 2033
Government leak
Last Sunday, The Sunday Telegraph reported that Cabinet and Home Office documents had been leaked online due to employees using the Trello sharing platform.
The Telegraph’s investigation revealed how highly sensitive information such as communications from MI5 and counter-terrorism officials had been accessible on Google for up to four years.
Peter Carlisle, VP EMEA, Thales eSecurity said: “This incident should serve as a wake-up call to government departments and businesses about the risks associated with online sharing tools.”
>See also: Are Initial Coin Offerings leaking money because of security flaws?
“Whilst everyone wants to see the public sector embracing the latest workplace platforms to drive efficiencies, these systems should be properly regulated to ensure sensitive information is protected and doesn’t end up indexed on search engines.”
