By silicon.com, 2 July 2004 17:15
NEWS 02.07.99: Labour MP Derek Wyatt is calling on the UK government to launch a complete audit of its computer contracts to put the brakes on an embarrassing series of technology failures.
According to the rebel backbencher, this week's Passport Office chaos is the final straw. "If you look at the past month there has been a catalogue of issues - the military overspends by £30m and the ICL/Post Office account cost £100m. It's clear to me that the government doesn't understand what's going on in this area."
02.07.04: Over the years Derek Wyatt, MP for Sittingbourne, has banged the drum for a number of tech issues and divided the industry.
In some quarters his persistence has been seen as uninformed meddling. The Internet Service Providers Association even shortlisted him for 'internet villain of the year' last year, so unwelcome was his bungled interference on the issue of spam prevention.
His latest involvement with tech issues has been as part of the All Party Internet Group recommending changes to the Computer Misuse Act.
However, despite some widespread criticism, which has even found its way onto the pages of silicon.com, Wyatt is also to praised for at least keeping IT issues on the government agenda and while there are still those in Westminster who think spam is just a tinned meat, his sometimes misguided perseverance is still welcome.
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1. anonymous
It would be nice if silicon.com could have a serious look at what IT stuff goes on in Parliament, and not just make teenage snide comments. The weigh of IT legislation over the past few years has been overwhelming. There are five IT all-party groups, for the Internet, e-democracy, telecommunications, PITCOM and EURIM (European informatic markets). (Too many, actually.) Every month, there are 20 or 30 parliamentary questions on IT stuff. Procedure has been revolutionized by the internet and email. Derek Wyatt is a great loose cannon, but by no means the only geek MP. Do your home-work please.