The government has, if you believe governments, committed itself to universal access to broadband. But what kind of broadband? Think about this - the commitment is to help us to get to the stage where we have 2Mbit/s by 2012 - not now, but in three years. Is that ADVERTISED or ACTUAL and what does this say about the government's commitment to small businesses? As a (very) recent survey by the FSB shows, most small businesses have two to four computers using the internet and more than 60 per cent of those who responded (6,000+ responses I may add) said they thought the figure should be a minimum of 8Mbits/. 

Is 8Mbit/s such an impossible task? I live out on the sticks and on a headline figure of 8Mbit/s I manage to get 6Mbit/s on a daily basis. On the other hand I have a little place in Spain in the country and we have a wireless connection there - which gives a reliable 512Kbps - and I can confirm that trying to do anything serious with such speeds is like having your arms removed. One large Powerpoint download and that's my connection gone for several minutes - and as for a Microsoft update - well!!!

In our organisation we're constantly shunting large attachments all over the place and we're not untypical. You might argue that 2Mbit/s is four times faster - but if we set this as a ceiling, what will the REAL speed be like - probably a lost less and in three years’ time most of our files will be a lot bigger - and since when do people ACTUALLY get what's on the box? 2Mbit/s is too near the bone. I know business people now who are on the slower connections and they reckon trying to get any work done at certain times of the day is virtually impossible.

We live in exponential times and our data requirements are continuing to go up and up - in three years time, 2Mbit/s will be only marginally more useful than dial-up is now. Our backup requirements will go through the roof as storage expands and our data expands to fill the void. We need offline solutions and they need BANDWIDTH. Is this REALLY the best our rural friends (and some in the cities) can hope for? While the likes of Virgin plough ahead at offering broadband 10 or 20 times higher than this - when the bulk of people in city centres gain high speed over the next few years we're looking at a serious divide between the digital haves and have-nots.

Satellite alternatives are not the be-all-and-end-all while the cost of such systems seems to continue to be sky-high, meanwhile mobile coverage - at least outside of London - is pretty poor, as anyone who has taken a train from Newcastle either down to London or across country will tell you. I know it's anecdotal but I'm sure I get better coverage in France and Spain than I do here. There are times on the train when I want to take the mobile dongle and throw it out of the window.

We need an imaginative plan to bring everyone into the 21st century - and for my money - this isn't it.

Apparently, under new laws effective from March, if you believe the press, the government will use our tax money to insist that ISPs keep track of our emails, presumably all of our spam as well. The Home Office apparently insists that the measure is vital for fighting cybercrime as well as combating terror plots.  They say that the stored information does not include the contents of emails… well no, not yet. But then they also said no new taxes.

Given that government has repeatedly demonstrated that it cannot be trusted to look after any kind of data never mind our private emails, I think we should all be PETRIFIED about this. Can you imagine a list of everyone you’ve contacted recently ending up on the black market on a DVD for competitors to see? Not just private, personal conversation but also sensitive business dealings?

The argument about this measure being vital for fighting crime just doesn’t add up for me – surely even the most half-witted terrorist would use temporary email addresses or instant messaging to cover their tracks, with only the dimmest actually sending an email from their regular address. Sadly, honest businesses and many individuals simply can’t go switching email addresses and providers to avoid being snooped on.

So, once again, ordinary, decent citizens and businesses are having their pockets and privacy invaded to satisfy the somewhat paranoid needs of the UK government.  Oh - and if they think you’re hiding something they will be able to hack your computer without a court order – does this begin  to sound like the USSR of old to you?

In so many ways we have gone FAR beyond George Orwell’s 1984.

Every Monday seems to mark the beginning of a new awareness drive and this week’s theme has particular importance to small businesses and IT - National Identity Fraud Prevention Week.

Accordingly, the FSB has joined a variety of public and private sector partners including the Metropolitan Police, Experian, Royal Mail and the Passport Service to warn consumers and businesses of the dangers of identity fraud, a crime which costs the UK economy over £1bn annually.

In a survey of over 1,000 businesses across several sectors released for the campaign today, 92% of employees confessed that the identity of staff and customers of their company could be stolen by a fraudster, 75% believe that their organisation should be doing more to prevent ID fraud while 63% believe that information could be stolen from the company’s computer system. Clearly, business has a significant role to play in helping to protect the identities of their customers and employees.

Fraud and online crime is a growing concern for small businesses. In volume terms, instances of low level crime against a business, such as criminal damage or vandalism are more frequent, however, the issue with fraud and online crime is that one event can be highly disruptive and even force a business to close.

Phishing attacks are a regular annoyance for small businesses, whether it’s a ‘special’ offer, a fake bank account in Nigeria or a scammer posing as the bank asking for your sort code and password. Businesses are becoming savvier and are now able to recognise them and press delete, but the scammers are also becoming more sophisticated.

The diversity of the small business community means that they are victim to fraud across the board from fraud via online banking, unauthorised direct debits/standing orders, the sale of eBay fake goods and scams through Skype and Paypal. A particular concern is the huge issue of theft of domain names, bought or used fraudulently by criminals and competitors. Spam emails are also sent using a legitimate business email address to seek out information from clients or simply to tarnish the reputation of the business.

The list is endless and includes fraudulent use of mailbox address and registrations at Companies House, using company name and addresses from websites to falsely recruit someone and obtain their personal details; fake Mortgage application; competitors using company names as tags through search engines to direct the customers elsewhere; impersonating companies and opening an account on eBay to sell fictional items using company name but false email address, business then gets billed...

Card-not-present fraud (when card details are fraudulently used over the phone, fax or internet) is also an increasing problem for retailers and small businesses relying on the Internet to sell products to national and international markets. Secure methods of obtaining payments such as Mastercard Securecode, Verified by Visa and PayPal are effective, but a lack of awareness means that customers can be put off when asked to register before completing the transaction, fearing a scam. Additionally, businesses are still charged for using the service, even if the transaction is fraudulent.

Taking preventative steps can help save a business such as implementing a secure Internet system and appropriately disposing of sensitive information, but this can only work if there is enough awareness of types of fraud and ways of protecting yourself.

Small businesses complain about the lack of reporting mechanisms, follow up and support available, particularly from the police, even where fraud worth thousands of pounds is involved. Businesses report that the police seem reluctant to get involved and criminals know they will get away with it. Better communication between police and businesses is necessary to catch repeat offenders:

There is clearly a role for little-known Regional Fraud Forums to reach out to small businesses and make information about prevention accessible, meanwhile Internet Service Providers must also take a more active role particularly over issuing domain names similar to existing companies and money being transferred online and perhaps banks should take more responsibility for credit card fraud rather than letting businesses bear the costs.

Of course businesses have a role to play such as using up to date anti-virus software and protecting their own, employee and customers’ personal and financial details. This week is a chance for all these organisations to work together and defeat this peril for the other 51 weeks of the year.

More and more businesses are turning to the web as an added source of income or even as an alternative one. It is so easy to start your own web site now with templates, tools, and guides available through most browsers and search engines and plenty of companies willing to design it for you at a price.

But while businesses are going online to promote their property, others are using the web to protect their property. This is where many small firms are finding problems.

Businesses often rush online without an awareness of rules and restrictions governing the plethora of information at their fingertips.

One such example is the use of images online. Copying and pasting a picture of a footballer to illustrate your sports shop or a car to promote your valet service may seem innocent enough but there are serious copyright issues which many small business owners may not be aware of in their eagerness to join the world wide web. A lot of businesses may also use stock photos that come free with Windows, only to later discover that they are in fact owned by an agency.

Picture agencies are starting to get sophisticated and aggressive at chasing payments for images used on other web sites without their permission - over the last few years Getty Images and Corbis have begun to use special software to identify when images they own are uploaded onto a web site.

Once an illegally uploaded picture is spotted, businesses have been issued with stern letters from solicitors or bailiffs warning them that they have broken the Copyright, Designs and Patents Act and attaching a license agreement demanding payment, often up to £1000 an image.

One such letter reads:

“Our client has instructed us to offer you a final opportunity to settle this matter without recourse to legal proceedings. Should you disregard this offer as well, and we do not receive the requested retrospective royalty payments and signed Licence Agreement by close of business on [date] our client has instructed us to treat your use of the Unlicensed Images as an unlawful infringement of its intellectual property rights. In these circumstances, we will advise our client to commence legal proceedings against you without further recourse to you. Should we need to instigate proceedings, we will be seeking legal costs which are likely to be in the region of £5000 in addition to the unpaid licence fee plus interest.”

For a small business owner, these type of threats can cause immense alarm and stress, affecting the running of the business and often its future. Other misinformed owners may not even understand who these agencies are and could disregard this as a scam.

Of course these companies have a right to chase payment for what is essentially their intellectual property, but it is the tactics that are worrying. I have heard of agencies later negotiating discounts for small companies, but if they can afford to offer a discount then what is the point of sending out threatening letters in the first place? Are they trying to raise awareness of copyright infringement, or just trying to make a bit of extra cash on the side from naive and vulnerable businesses?

In most cases that I am aware of, businesses have removed the offending image and heard nothing more. But others may get scared at the threats and immediately pay up, saddling themselves with a big dent in their wallet before taking appropriate legal advice.

Obviously I don’t condone plagiarism, but surely there are other ways for Getty and Corbis to protect their products such as watermarking or encrypting the image to stop people from simply clicking “copy and paste” or perhaps just a gentle reminder in the post or via email making offenders aware of the laws surrounding the use of images on the internet.

While businesses should be a bit more careful, these agencies also need to be a bit more understanding and not expect everyone to be a legal expert. Many businesses have only just learned the difference between email spam and tinned spam, so awareness of copyright infringement has some way to go.
If you’re interested in this subject, the FSB’s forums have a very popular topic dedicated to the subject, see here: http://www.fsb.org.uk/discuss

Many of you will know that a few weeks ago we had National Identity Fraud Prevention Week and clearly the FSB, with over 200,000 members has something to say on this. My own personal view is that identity theft, (which is one of the fastest growing crimes in the UK) is something we need to take very seriously. It seems that many of our smaller businesses are hanging onto sensitive documents instead of destroying them once done with - and worse still they're not doing enough to check on their customers and suppliers. 

Considering that the livelihoods of over 12 million employees are at risk this is something we should all be taking very seriously. I'm long past the point of trusting complete strangers who ring, fax or email and taking that attitude has saved me months of paperwork-chasing.  Your identity can be stolen in so many different ways, from email 'phishing' attacks  - for example FSBs members still respond to emails pretending to be from Barclays bank asking customers to update their personal details - to someone intercepting your post or even more complex scams where fraudsters can even manage to take over financial bonds in your name and open bank accounts.  One place I often point to for advice is www.stop-idfraud.co.uk which gives more advice and info to businesses about how to protect themselves. 

Businesses need to protect sensitive information not just about themselves but of their customers and clients too - sadly, research indicates that this isn't happening.