When Coronavirus is finally resolved the economy will be severely damaged. We should regard this as an opportunity for change.
There is no doubt that the NETWORK will become the prime medium for business transactions. The NETWORK is the Internet, the increasingly advanced commercial agents, such as AIs, that manage and monitor it and the multinational corporations that control it. The Government must treat the Internet in the same way as it treats general business transactions. We know what is needed to make business reasonably fair, open, safe and profitable but the NETWORK has been given an anarchic free pass on business regulation.
During the Coronavirus epidemic many companies will have shifted business online and huge companies such as Amazon will have become commercially dominant. Companies such as Amazon are dangerous partners for business because they see their future as vertically integrated monopolies that control trade from production to retail sales. Large companies will always attempt to do this and the fact that it is happening is a reflection of the inertia and inaction of government, not the cleverness of Multinational Corporations.
Post Coronavirus market dominance on the NETWORK must be tackled. Amazon UK should have its market share limited progressively and UK based contenders for online shopping emporia should be financed at advantageous rates. Remember that Amazon did not make a profit for years after it was founded so its UK replacements will need long term nurturing.
Local Authorities should have a separately elected Local Enterprise Council whose role is to encourage local business, liaise with the local banks and oversee the local NETWORK. A strong local NETWORK should be fostered that provides local Internet Services. The Local Enterprise Council would consist of half of all Council seats and be a part of Council meetings. It is the enterprise section of the Council, not a separate body, although it would hold regular meetings separate from the full Council. All Councils from towns upwards should have Enterprise sections. It is time to move on from Councils seeing themselves as the dispensers of benefits.
The High Street, as it was 20 years ago, is probably dead. Councils should organise an orderly retreat of town retail and services into an entertainment and retail zone in the centre of town. As part of this retreat the provision of free parking, especially for electric vehicles, will be essential. Increasing parking charges should be gradually applied to out of town shopping centres and large Internet distribution centres.
UK banks are no longer capable of providing finance for small and medium sized companies (SMEs). They have closed local branches and almost fully lodged themselves on the NETWORK.
The Government and Bank of England will need to provide backing for local banks that operate through the local NETWORK.
As the NETWORK has become the dominant business transaction medium it represents a huge security and fraud risk. Online fraud cost the UK nearly £11bn in 2015, more than the UK contributions to the EU (net) and enough to bail out the NHS. The only way to make the NETWORK secure is to copy the Chinese and implement a firewall to protect the country from foreign attack, crime and interference. The need for a firewall is becoming increasingly important as quantum computing threatens to undermine the secure transmission of data. Once a firewall is in place the country will have a strong bargaining chip to deal with security, foreign interference, foreign dumping of products and other abuses.
A replacement for Google should be encouraged. The Chinese have introduced Baidu for online searches and the UK should also encourage a replacement search engine.
Facebook, Instagram, WhatsApp, Twitter and other social media should have UK divisions or UK replacements. The UK divisions would fall under normal publishing rules. Social media companies that flout the rules would be blocked.
If this all sounds restrictive or controlling we should remember that it is only implementing the regulations that apply to other businesses, those that operate outside the NETWORK. The regulations on publishing and commerce were largely introduced for good reasons. We should not have to wait for each of these good reasons to become apparent on the NETWORK before taking action.
There is no doubt that the NETWORK will become the prime medium for business transactions. The NETWORK is the Internet, the increasingly advanced commercial agents, such as AIs, that manage and monitor it and the multinational corporations that control it. The Government must treat the Internet in the same way as it treats general business transactions. We know what is needed to make business reasonably fair, open, safe and profitable but the NETWORK has been given an anarchic free pass on business regulation.
During the Coronavirus epidemic many companies will have shifted business online and huge companies such as Amazon will have become commercially dominant. Companies such as Amazon are dangerous partners for business because they see their future as vertically integrated monopolies that control trade from production to retail sales. Large companies will always attempt to do this and the fact that it is happening is a reflection of the inertia and inaction of government, not the cleverness of Multinational Corporations.
Post Coronavirus market dominance on the NETWORK must be tackled. Amazon UK should have its market share limited progressively and UK based contenders for online shopping emporia should be financed at advantageous rates. Remember that Amazon did not make a profit for years after it was founded so its UK replacements will need long term nurturing.
Local Authorities should have a separately elected Local Enterprise Council whose role is to encourage local business, liaise with the local banks and oversee the local NETWORK. A strong local NETWORK should be fostered that provides local Internet Services. The Local Enterprise Council would consist of half of all Council seats and be a part of Council meetings. It is the enterprise section of the Council, not a separate body, although it would hold regular meetings separate from the full Council. All Councils from towns upwards should have Enterprise sections. It is time to move on from Councils seeing themselves as the dispensers of benefits.
The High Street, as it was 20 years ago, is probably dead. Councils should organise an orderly retreat of town retail and services into an entertainment and retail zone in the centre of town. As part of this retreat the provision of free parking, especially for electric vehicles, will be essential. Increasing parking charges should be gradually applied to out of town shopping centres and large Internet distribution centres.
UK banks are no longer capable of providing finance for small and medium sized companies (SMEs). They have closed local branches and almost fully lodged themselves on the NETWORK.
As the NETWORK has become the dominant business transaction medium it represents a huge security and fraud risk. Online fraud cost the UK nearly £11bn in 2015, more than the UK contributions to the EU (net) and enough to bail out the NHS. The only way to make the NETWORK secure is to copy the Chinese and implement a firewall to protect the country from foreign attack, crime and interference. The need for a firewall is becoming increasingly important as quantum computing threatens to undermine the secure transmission of data. Once a firewall is in place the country will have a strong bargaining chip to deal with security, foreign interference, foreign dumping of products and other abuses.
A replacement for Google should be encouraged. The Chinese have introduced Baidu for online searches and the UK should also encourage a replacement search engine.
Facebook, Instagram, WhatsApp, Twitter and other social media should have UK divisions or UK replacements. The UK divisions would fall under normal publishing rules. Social media companies that flout the rules would be blocked.
Footnote: it is essential to jam satellite based Internet Access. It might be SpaceX today but tomorrow it will be Russia and China beaming propaganda at us in return for free services.
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