July 13, 2010 by James Oliver
A new manifesto has been released calling for every person with the UK of working age to be connected to the internet, by 2012. The ‘Network Nation’ movement has issued the manifesto to raise awareness of the exclusion of retired, unemployed and disadvantaged UK citizens from the web. Internet access is now considered to be a basic human right, as evidenced by the use of internet in prisons.
Martha Lane Fox, Digital Champion in the UK and founder of Lastminute.com, has called for digital inclusion as a way of reducing unemployment and assisting the economy. The move has been backed by Prime Minister David Cameron, although there has been no mention of who will be funding the new initiative. The manifesto contains steps for ensuring that people who do not yet have internet access can get connected, through a number of measures. Steps include collaboration with charitable organisations, setting up digital advocates within regional government, and offering online services through public facilities such as job centres and libraries.
Lane Fox has commented: “This Manifesto is a rallying cry for us all to create a truly networked nation – and a chance to get millions more people online by the end of 2012. An Olympic legacy that would benefit us all – this is a challenge for people and organisations in every sector and in every corner of our country to work together to inspire, encourage and support as many new people as possible to get online by the end of the Olympic year.”
“The 10 million people in the UK who have never been online are already missing out on big consumer savings, access to information and education. They will be even more isolated and disadvantaged as government and industry expand ever faster into digital-only services. We must change our mindset from one that shields people from using the internet to one that helps empower them to get online and enjoy all the benefits. We cannot wait for new technology solutions or for better and faster infrastructure. We need to recycle and join up our existing infrastructure to exploit the assets and the skills that we already have.”
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