But the government was never going to win on this one.

If you’re in the digital creative business you’re naturally going to have anti-establishment tendencies; this is a digital revolution after all.

And if you profess to be one of the revolution’s “thought leaders”, it seems that the more radical your views on what the digital economy needed from the bill, the higher the regard from your peers.

But when Lord Carter came to Birmingham last June and spoke to a room full of such people about his Digital Britain report (the forerunner to the Bill), I thought he gave a good account of himself.

The report and the discussion covered the vast spectrum of issues lumped under the ‘digital’ banner. Everything from solving the growing bandwidth divide between poor and wealthy and the illegal download problem, to the role of our publicly funded broadcaster.

In my opinion, this hopelessly wide scope created an impossible task for Lord Carter. So I was not surprised that the resulting Bill contained extensive measures to help stop illegal downloading and little else!

The most draconian measure, or so it seems to the digital community, is the removal of a perpetrator’s broadband connection – but only after a few stiff letters have been sent.

Which seems rather ironic, as Carter’s report identified high-speed net access as a human right in the 21^St century!

ISPs are also critical of the Bill because, basically, they don’t want the bother of trying to implement it. They know that online anonymity is never going to be hard to find for people intent on breaking the law and at best they will catch a few gullible kids.

Creators of digital content need to find other ways to remunerate their endeavours. For instance the film industry has discovered that 3D can counter piracy by creating an experience that cannot be replicated at home (yet!).

Musicians can make money on merchandising and live concerts, and games providers through online subscriptions to hosted multi-user features.

They have to find innovative ways to be rewarded for their creativity in this new environment, rather than relying on copyright laws from a pre-digital era.

It is very easy to criticise the Bill, without offering any alternative, but my suggestion would be to have no Bill at all!  Online piracy is not a problem that can be solved by legislation.

For example, my cousin is a doctor and it’s impossible to have a conversation with her lasting more than five minutes without it turning into a medical analogy of some sort.

I’m like that with social media, though I admit to sometimes feeling slightly ashamed to be making a comparison between marketing and saving lives! I apologise in advance!

Take the current weather crisis blighting lives and ruining our economy.

Many are blaming it on the poor supplies of salt grit. This is why I love Britain – we spectacularly fail to deal with the recent snowfall and all we can do is rant about the lack of salt as being the cause of everything going down the pan.

Richard Madeley himself has used Twitter to launch a “foul-mouthed” attack on his local council for running out of salt grit, which he says has stopped him getting to important meetings.

“Grrr:still no sign of any gritters here.Looks like our council’s f***** up again” he ranted.

This is just one, celebrity example of the effect the snow has had this week.

Many others, including myself, understand his frustration.

However, it makes me feel annoyed for a different reason. Is it really the lack of salt grit that’s to blame?

Is it not the lack of a more widespread ‘entrepreneurial’ infrastructure in the UK that would mean we could get on with business (as usual) whatever the weather?

Social media technology and communication enable us to work in a much more proactive and reactive way. So even when the roads are closed we can still keep on working. I may have been snowed in but it hasn’t stopped me getting the job done.

I’m not saying that it solves every problem (roads are vital!) but it helps to keep people working and for businesses to be successful. Too few businesses and organisations are set up to take advantage of digital and social media quickly in times of crisis – whether it’s a snowstorm or a Twitter storm.

Collaborative working can happen virtually whether it’s realtime text conversations or video sharing/conferencing. The solutions exist and don’t need to be expensive or complex.

Digital is a key solution to problems like the snowfall we’ve had this week. It reminds us of the importance of initiatives like Digital Britain. It also highlights how really we can’t wait much longer.

If business and society as a whole were set up better, and integrated digital to a greater extent, people like Mr. Madeley wouldn’t have to miss important meetings any more – whilst also alleviating some of the stress on the suppliers of salt grit!

Overall, it’s positive. There’s a clear vision to get everyone online over the next 7 years albeit with a questionable funding proposal – the 50p levy on fixed line phone bills is estimated to raise £130-150 million, which is a fraction of the cost to fund a fibre optic network. Potential flaw in the plan there!

Support for commercial TV stations is good in principle, though it’s a slightly bizarre proposal to support regional news. So far it seems to have left a number of commentators scratching their heads. There’s also a lifeline thrown to Channel 4, suggesting a partnership with BBC Worldwide but again the proposal is fuzzy at best and many are wondering just how it’s going to work in practice. I’m hoping there isn’t a theme developing here!

Cracking down on illegal file sharers will be welcomed by the entertainment industry and 3G enhancement is a positive nod for mobile so it’s great to see some attention there too.

But what I’m interested in is what it all means for us as a society, how we communicate, and what this spells for the advancement of social media.

In essence the report is about policy, infrastructure and effectively getting more people online. Legally-downloaded music to my ears! This is all great but it’s the impact of it that fascinates me most.

More people using the internet will only increase the rate of social media adoption exponentially. Us folk in the communications and digital marketing business should recognise the implications of the Digital Britain report, especially for social media (I would say that!).

With the likes of Google and IAB already giving their backing, it’s a huge step forward – and a massive opportunity.

Digital technology and social media have already radically changed the way we humans communicate and interact with each other.

Fast and timely publishing and sharing of content between vast swathes of the population is actually changing society. At a personal level, it is changing how we interact with friends, family, colleagues, businesses, brands and even complete strangers.

At a high level, look at 24 hour news and immediate information transmission – arguably a driving force behind both positive and negative developments in society, the swine flu health alert and the credit crunch respectively.

Digital technology is that important and this report is telling me that this pace of change is going to speed up dramatically, in this country at least.

If Britain really does become fully Digital, prepare yourself for a new society with social communication as its driving force.

Now for that lie down!