Will politics be the ruin of IT?

IT has become a regular feature on the political agenda, after decades of struggling to be noticed.

The future of the UK’s next-generation broadband access network is debated at Westminster. The UK has a Digital Britain minister now, whereas IT used to fall under the remit of the erstwhile Department for Trade and Industry. The Tories want to kill off Ofcom. Our political parties are jostling to show they “get it” – using the latest technology to conduct everything from campaigning for the next election to their daily spinning.

In a wider sphere, delegates to this week’s UN Climate Change Conference in Copenhagen are pushing to include the role that IT can play in reducing greenhouse gas emissions as part of any agreed text that comes out of the meeting of world leaders this month.

Yes, IT is strutting the world stage.

But while the technological activists who have achieved this are to be congratulated for their efforts and perseverance, the rewards may not be all they hoped.

Healthcare, crime and the economy are the big issues on which elections are won and lost. And they often suffer accordingly: capriciously stuffed with unplanned funding, starved of resources or traded like commodities with no regard for the daily lives of citizens, depending on what politicians feel will win them power in the short term.

What will happen to the NGA rollout debate if – as is not unlikely – none of the parties wins a workable majority in the Commons next spring? It won’t even become a political football: it will by buried in political horse-trading.

While it is uplifting for those who work in IT to know that technology has made it onto the political agenda, there is something to be said for quietly getting on with the job under the radar.

Less visibility can mean less interference.