Rapid advancements in computational power, decreasing costs of hardware and software, and the ubiquity of data, mobile and embedded technology have created unthought-of dilemmas. Policymakers, businesses and citizens are scrambling to understand the impact and challenges of technological progress. As creators, consumers and users do we all need to understand how technology works? And who can we hold to account when it fails? Is it possible to develop a set of regulatory principles for digital products? Hancock is Secretary of State for Digital, Culture, Media and Sport. Margetts is Director of the Oxford Internet Institute and Professor of Society and the Internet at University of Oxford. Harkness is a science writer, presenter and comedian.