Ian Taylor, former Conservative MP for Esher & Walton. First been elected in 1987. He was Minister for Science and Technology at the Department of Trade and Industry (1994-97). He currently chairs the Conservative Party's Policy Task-force on Science, Technology, Engineering & Mathematics. In the House of Commons, he is co-Chairman of the Parliamentary Space Committee; a Board Member of the Parliamentary Office of Science & Technology; Director of EURIM; and Vice Chairman of PITCOM (Parliamentary Information Technology Committee). He was also Hon Secretary of the Parliamentary Group for Engineering Development 1997-2001. On the Executive Committee of the All Party Parliamentary Group on Communications. He is a member of the All Party Internet Group. Vice Chair of EURIM.

He was educated at Keele University (BA Hons. in Economics, Politics & Modern History) and the London School of Economics (Research Scholar). Since the 1997 General Election, Ian has been involved in providing development capital and management assistance to UK technology companies. He is non executive director of The Parkmead Group (www.parkmeadgroup.com). His portfolio of business interests includes directorships of Next Fifteen Group plc. (www.nextfifteen.com), Petards Group plc. (www.petardsgroup.com), Radioscape plc. (www.radioscape.com), AXA Framlington Group Limited (www.framlington.com) and Speed-Trap Limited (www.speed-trap.com)

Issues

ID Cards

Ian Taylor lists ID cards as one of his Campaign Issues

When the Identity Cards Bill was going through Parliament, I was concerned over the security of the information which will be stored on these cards, particularly bearing in mind the ever more sophisticated fraudulent activity within every area of e-life.

DRM

Was present at the APIG Hearing into DRM and asked several questions.

Children's Digital Rights

Ian Taylor has sponsored a Bill in Parliament calling for licensing for child phone tracking devices. Ian Taylor said:

"A child location service can give parents peace of mind, but what peace of mind will they have if such services remain unregulated and open to any stranger to misuse? That stranger may be one of those people who are so clever at grooming a child."

...

"For the first time in our history, we have it within our power—every one of us, not just James Bond types or the police—to track another person 24 hours a day, seven days a week, 365 days a year. The mass consumer market is about to be flooded—is being flooded—with cheap, easy-to-use tracking devices; some are even being given away free. In addition to special tracking devices, there are services to track people through their mobile phones."

"There undoubtedly positive benefits of location services, for example to plot a route in your car or to be found by the emergency services after an accident or to know where your child is. But there need to be controls and a licensing regime if the public are to be reassured that modern technology can help without being abused by unscrupulous people."

Links

Ian Taylor MP web site
Ian Taylor MP TheyWorkForYou.com
Ian Taylor MP Wikipedia
Ian Taylor MP Conservative party profile
Voting Record

News

2007-11-26 - eGov Monitor - Some thoughts for the Public Accounts Committee on "Governance and the Internet": Summary: On Wednesday the Public Accounts Committee will look at "Government on the Internet". eGov monitor has asked for the views others ... Ian Taylor MP "The Brown efficiency drive, when utilising shared services, has not penetrated very deeply. Important savings still need to be realised. The silo mentality is still very much in evidence across the public sector, particularly in Whitehall. It has also limited the positive impact of appropriate data sharing with those standing in the way often citing the Data Protection Act, despite repeated briefings to the contrary from the Information Commissioner." "Generally there has been a very poor job of promoting the positive advantages to the citizen that new technology can bring from identity management, CCTV or electronic public service delivery. The concept of identity management is understood very well by industry and very poorly by citizens and the Government. Too often technology is viewed as a problem rather than an opportunity - resulting in its under-exploitation." "We should promote the positive concepts that identity management with biometrics can give citizens control over their own personal information and access to identity, that CCTV is making public spaces safer and dealing with the public sector online saves citizens time and effort as well as releasing public money and resources to be focused on delivering better public services for those in real need. It is important that the next generation of young adults are encouraged to deal with Government online through their schooling. Now in schools, even in deprived areas, children have access to the Internet. Hopefully there will be a generational shift, which will do much to tackle the digital divide. It is important that the public sector keeps listening to citizens about the type of access they require through whatever digital platform they choose, to ensure we can take advantage of future opportunities."

2006-06-05 - Open Rights Group - Launch of the APIG report on DRM: Author: Suw Charman; Summary: Last year, the Open Rights Group submitted evidence to the All Party Internet Group’s public inquiry into digital rights ... regarding ORG’s position and answering questions from Derek Wyatt MP, Ian Taylor MP and the Earl of Erroll

2006-03-09 - The Guardian - Techno world has MPs beat: Author: Richard Sarson; Summary: Ian Taylor, the Conservative minister of technology in the Department of Trade and Industry from 1994-97, says when he was in office only a few ministerial colleagues could be briefed properly on his plans to nurture the new cable companies in the face of a dominant BT. He had to seek allies from technically minded MPs in the space committee and the IT lobbying group Eurim. His background was in merchant banking and exposure to IT "erratic". He is living proof that previous IT experience is not essential for a minister. What is needed, says Taylor, is the "ability to grasp the implications of IT and the drive to realise the opportunities". By early 1997 his drive helped launch IT projects for business, education, public awareness and government.direct, the first initiative to replace paper forms with on-screen versions.

2005-09-27 - The Register - Government hurting, not helping, innovation: Author: Gavin Clarke; Summary: Taylor argued the UK government has a good history of innovation, "pulling together ideas that can be used by the private sector". This spans the release of the UK's wireless spectrum to telecoms companies, the transfer of knowledge in defence and security projects to develop unmanned vehicles and robots, and advances in the storage and analysis of data in distributed networks. Taylor said government is able to stimulate the process of innovation through funding and education, calling national and local institutions the "bulk applier of ideas."

2005-01-26 - The Register - FBI backs transatlantic anti-spam summit: Author: John Leyden; Summary: During their three-day trip to Washington, the MPs aim to help set the agenda for international policy on internet security issues, including spam, viruses, zombie computers, rogue diallers and denial of service attacks.

2004-02-17 - Computer Weekly - UK poor in delivering broadband: Author: Antony Savvas; Summary: Delegates at the CMA conference in London have highlighted the UK's weak performance in delivering broadband. ... Ian Taylor MP, former Tory science and technology minister, said, “The education benefits of broadband in the UK are obvious but we do seem to be in a situation of having to keep selling it.” Taylor, who was minister when the UK telecoms market was opened up to competition, said it was wrong, however, to focus on the wired market to deliver broadband. He said wireless spectrum technologies could be used to make the UK a more competitive broadband market.