General Election 2019: Labour manifesto promises free fibre and fines for Facebook over online bullying
Social media companies to face "legal duty of care" to protect children online, NCSC role to be reviewed and extended, and Charter of Digital Rights promised
The Labour Party has promised to deliver free full-fibre broadband "to all" by 2030 under British Broadband, a nationalised, state-controlled communications company.
As trailed earlier this week, this will be paid for by "taxation of multinationals, including tech giants", which will "pay for the operating costs of the public full-fibre network". The Party claimed that the plan would "boost jobs, tackle regional inequality and improve quality of life".
The full-fibre plan would be underpinned by the nationalisation of BT-owned Openreach, the heavily regulated infrastructure arm of BT. "We will establish British Broadband, with two arms: British Digital Infrastructure (BDI) and the British Broadband Service (BBS)," the manifesto explained.
We will bring the broadband-relevant parts of BT into public ownership, with a jobs guarantee for all workers in existing broadband infrastructure
In addition, workers outside of BT that might be affected by the nationalisation of Openreach, and the subsequent provision of free fibre broadband, would also have guaranteed jobs in either BDI or BBS.
"We will bring the broadband-relevant parts of BT into public ownership, with a jobs guarantee for all workers in existing broadband infrastructure and retail broadband work," the Party pledged.
BT Openreach already has a target of reaching 15 million properties by the mid-2020s, with a full switch-over in 2033. However, on election as leader of the Conservative Party, Prime Minister Boris Johnson called for the full-fibre coverage target to be brought forward to 2025.
At the time, BT CEO Philip Jansen said that the company could step-up investment in a bid to achieve Johnson's target. A protracted nationalisation of Openreach, especially if it is challenged in the courts, may delay the roll-out of full-fibre rather than speed it up.
The National Cyber Security Centre, despite only getting up to speed in the last couple of years, will have its role and remit reviewed "to determine whether it should be given powers as an auditing body, with the ability to issue warnings to private and public sector organisations".
In addition, a "co-ordinating minister", the manifesto pledges, "will overhaul our cyber security" and conduct "regular reviews of cyber-readiness".
Labour also pledged to introduce a "legal right to collective consultation on the implementation of new technology in workplaces", alongside sector-wide collective wage bargaining, presumably led by trade unions.
The manifesto had little to say about technology or the technology industries beyond that.
The Labour Party pledged to take action to address the monopolistic hold the tech giants have on advertising revenues
However, it did promise that a Labour government would "enforce a legal duty of care to protect our children online" that would involve the imposition of fines "on companies that fail on online abuse". This will be backed up with a Charter of Digital Rights.
In addition, the Labour Party pledged to "take action to address the monopolistic hold the tech giants have on advertising revenues and will support vital local newspapers and media outlets". On top of that, the manifesto pledges to establish an inquiry into so-called fake news, in addition to promising to implement the second stage of the Leveson Inquiry's recommendations.
But the manifesto did not go into details about exactly what "rights" will be in the Charter of Digital Rights, nor the action that it would take to release the "monopolistic hold of the tech giants" in advertising revenues.
In terms of training, the manifesto promised to "make it easier for employers to spend the [Apprenticeship] Levy" by enabling it to "be used for a wider range of accredited training", but much of the apprenticeship funding would be focused on climate change initiatives, rather than technology.
A National Education Service would also be established to provide continuing life-long education, "technical, vocational, academic and creative".
The manifesto also took aim at Uber, without directly naming the company, with promises to "reform taxi and private hire services", which would include "updating regulations to keep pace with technological change" and "to close loopholes to ensure a level playing field".
In the NHS, action would be taken to "ensure NHS data is not exploited by international technology and pharmaceutical corporations".