Edinburgh Napier University

  We have spent years promoting the need for change in our approach to internet infrastructure, forcing politicians to recognise it as a serious issue. So it’s great to see Barack Obama tackling the issue in his State of the Union address. You may agree or disagree with some of things he says, but he avoids the naïve thinking that suggests “banning encryption” or bulk surveillance of everyone’s communications are quick fixes for society’s ills. The internet we have created is only just past its infancy and yet it already plays an integral role in our lives. Now is the time to put it to use for the betterment of the whole of society. Putting the brakes on now could derail many of the advances we have made. It could unpick economic gains and squander its potential to reform public services. Few technologies have ever provided such benefits so widely.