Parliamentary Internet Caucus

On Tuesday night a gathering of MPs voted to set up a cross-party “Parliamentary Internet Caucus“, The PIC elected David Cunliffe and Maurice Williamson as co-chairs, and its purpose is to discuss Internet issues in a non-political, collaborative way, and also to increase and enhance knowledge and understanding by all MPs of the Internet and associated technologies.

I’m really pleased with this development, and not just because I was one of the proponents of it. The Internet is such a vital part of our country and economy, that it is great to have a commitment to work together on relevant issues. It’s not to say there won’t be issues (such as the telecommunications regulatory framework) where there are genuinely different views, but it’s in all of our interest to have sensible laws on ISP liability, digital copyright, etc etc.

People often call for there to be less posturing and argument in Parliament, and for MPs to work together more. Well this is a good example of MPs doing exactly that.