Maude reckons UK.gov web makeover will save £1.8bn annually

There have been attempts by the home office to offer 'comforting' advice to Phorm/BT who were at the time trying to exploit our online acitivities for their own commercial gain without our knowledge or consent. The level of apparent ignorance of what was going on at the time by the then-director general of GCHQ leaves the strong impression that the government had a strong incentive to allow it to proceed. Perhaps a forerunner and a basis for the systems needed by the legislation outlined in the government's CCDP package?

What reason therefore should we have to think that government services - many of whom could be dealing with sensitive personal data - will be secure when accessed through methods of communications whose security has been intentionally compromised?

If may be worth noting that even the likes of the Hampshire police service use Bluecoat's services on their internet connection. Any usage of a government service going through there would presumably be made potentially available to the US government under the PATRIOT Act. If the police allow this to happen to their own officers whilst refusing to do anything about RIPA offenses brought to their attention by the public then what hope is there for the rest of us?

And what about any attempt to limit or block internet usage because of the DEA? How will people access government services if they've been blocked from having internet access?

Hmm

£1.8bn saving? And I just saw a badger on a unicycle.

Meet the new strategy, same as the old strategy

Despite what you might think if you drink the kool-aid from the gov.uk web team, and their cabal of little friends all over Twitter, there's nothing new, innovative or radical about this strategy. It's exactly the same thing that every UK government web service has been saying for years. We'll change the world! We'll be digital by default! We'll save billions! No-one will be left behind!

It's nonsense, of course. They'll shoehorn what they can into their rigid little round-cornered boxes, in the process throwing out a whole bunch of good content (if you don't believe me, Google what people are saying about gov.uk having replaced Business Link). The 7 million who aren't online will continue not to be. In a while, the kool-aid drinkers will get bored, move on, and it'll be left to the dedicated career civil servants to pick up the pieces. Plus ca change...

drink the kool-aid.. Will people kindly stop saying this, it makes no sense of any sort. i've just googled it, sounds disgusting anyway. The of course there are the people who start sentences with So.

Hilarious

When was the last time a UK GOV IT project came in under (or at) budget and on time ?

1.8Bn?

Isnt that the same as the cost of the latest slurp to spy on the UKs netizens porn stash?

Why not link to the HTML version?

El Reg,

You know I love you right? We've been friends a while...

But I just can't understand why you linked to the PDF version of this strategy document. Firstly, it's a PDF - which isn't always Portable and in this case it's not particularly sexy looking.

However http://publications.cabinetoffice.gov.uk/digital/strategy/ is beautiful, really beautiful. It's in HTML, it's open, free and unencumbered. Why didn't you link to that? I know it was in the press info, because I saw it...

Please, please... change you link...