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Theresa May and the technology industry

Following Britain’s decision to leave the European Union and David Cameron’s resignation, Theresa May has being appointed Prime Minister. London is one of the world’s greatest tech hubs, but what will the political changes in the UK mean for the industry?

Jake Madders, Director at Managed Cloud Hosting company, Hyve believes there will be a greater emphasis placed on security. “With Theresa May taking up her role as PM, attention is returning to the Communications Data Bill (or ‘Snooper’s Charter’), proposed during her tenure as Home Secretary. It’s important that security services are able to find new ways to prevent and detect crime, but the bill may also have additional consequences that would benefit from further consideration, or at the very least greater co-operation and communication between government and those businesses most directly affected.

The policies around data protection and encryption present particular challenges. Cyber security and data protection are core considerations for a huge range of digital businesses, with encryption of data being among the most pertinent. Removing encryption could mean that tech companies become an even bigger target for hackers. Organisations like ours adhere to the governance provided by the Data Protection Act, ISO 27001, PCI DSS standard, and via the government accreditation, G-Cloud, among others. This would all have to be reconsidered if the ‘back door’ to encryption the bill seeks was to appear.“

There have also been growing concerns around the impact this will have on small start up businesses in the UK looking to expand into the European market. Simon Marrion, EMEA Regional Director at Scale Computing says there is no immediate need for organisations to panic. “London is one of the world’s greatest tech hubs and stands as a point of entry into the European market for many growing businesses and startups. David Cameron recognised the potential for the technology industry to grow in the UK’s capital city and I’m sure Theresa May will show the same support. Businesses of all sizes needn’t fear any abrupt changes or major disruptions in the short term. London is a great city for technology investment and we will still see businesses that invest in the right technology flourish in the new political environment.”

This was posted in Bdaily's Members' News section by Scale Computing and Hyve technology news .