After the relieved laughter ended, the Liberal Democrats' spokesperson on IT tried to explain why people will want fast broadband internet access. But Allan thinks that open source software, which can be downloaded free and is written and debugged through the collaboration of its users, could be the clincher that convinces many to move to broadband. "People want to do things," he said.
Allan gave the example of his brother - not an IT specialist - who obtained a fast connection to download CD-burning software. "He became aware that there was something that could make his life better, and he went on to the internet and found it," Allan said. "It's very much a Liberal Democrat theme, of empowerment. It's devolution down to the individual."
After the fringe meeting, Allan said that he installed an open source operating system, Linux, over the summer. "There are technical wrinkles, but that level of control is very enabling," he enthused.
However, Allan does not think open source is always the answer, but it should get strong consideration in public sector areas such as health. "If you've got an x-ray viewer module, that should be available to any health records system," he said.
Liberal Democrats like to think of themselves as open source politicians. "Because we are a grass-roots party, as we have a lot of innovation, then we share it," said Mary Reid, a member of Liberal Democrats Online, an organisation that shares expertise on party websites and email lists. This goes for policy, too, as ideas from her group have gone into the party's review of IT policy.
Allan also renewed his opposition to home secretary David Blunkett's plans for identity cards by calling a conference debate on the issue.
"My own view is firmly against identity cards," he said. "The benefits seem very, very slight, when compared to the huge costs. If the government has billions to spend on IT, why not [start with] education and health?"
His main objection is on their usage: "Calling it an 'entitlement card' suggests it will be checked before getting a range of services." Tighter identity checks might be reasonable in a few areas, but certainly not everywhere. "If one person is cheating, does that mean that everyone has to go through this system?"
And Allan is no fan of attempts by media and software companies to enforce copyright through altering computer hardware so it will not load copyrighted material. "We have rules based on an analogue society," he told the fringe meeting.
As for the European Union Copyright Directive currently under discussion, which may be similar to America's restrictive Digital Millennium Copyright Act, Allan said: "If Europe follows the US, it will fail on a technical level."
However, LibDem peer Lord McNally, who chaired the meeting, interjected: "If there's piracy on a grand scale, it will dry up creativity." That's open source politics - everyone gets a chance to tweak the policy source code.
