Minister thinks IP address is an "Intellectual Property address"

http://www.boingboing.net/2010/04/08/minister-for-digital.html

by rpledge • 16 years ago

69 13 16 years ago

andrewvc• 16 years ago

So, I think the title should make it clear that this is Britain's Minister for Digital Britain. To my American eyes this read as if some random clergyman was confused.

meroliph• 16 years ago

As mentioned on Reddit (http://www.reddit.com/r/worldnews/comments/bo623/i_wrote_to_...), this may likely be a screw-up by a secretary, as the letter does make sense aside from this problem.

farnsworth2• 16 years ago

Right, besides the acronym fail, he seems to be using the term correctly, so why give him so much crap for it?

Silhouette• 16 years ago

Because it was an official response to another MP. Getting it right is the most basic thing any public official has to do. If we can't trust them to proofread things that go out with their name underneath on even the most cursory level, how can we trust that the consideration they have given to the wording in Acts of Parliament is careful and reasoned?

chris11• 16 years ago

Yeah, I think that is what happened.

From wikipedia: Timms read Mathematics at Emmanuel College, Cambridge where he gained an MA in Mathematics in 1977 and an MPhil in Operational Research in 1978. Before entering politics, Timms worked in the telecommunications industry for 15 years.

It sounds like he would have enough technical background and experience to know what he was talking about in this case.

chbarts2• 16 years ago

Fifteen years does not guarantee competence, just like being CEO or CTO does not. Besides, if he were successful in business, why would he be in government? Warren Buffet has never held a cabinet position, to my knowledge.

stretchwithme• 16 years ago

of course! isn't that where you leave your patents?

rfrey• 16 years ago

Funny for sure. Probably a late edit where a non-technical editor or a script replaces any acronyms with "Expanded Acronym (EA)". When I was a journalist that used to be done for style reasons as a matter of course, even if the acronym was widely understood.

sp332• 16 years ago

...then after hours we'd play Network File System v4 (NFS 4) from Expanded Acronym (EA) Sports!

noblethrasher• 16 years ago

Orrin Hatch made the same mistake about 10 years ago during a hearing on file sharing. The CEO of Napster corrected him.

Minister thinks IP address is an "Intellectual Property address"

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