DAVID BIRCH is a director of Consult Hyperion, an IT management consultancy that specialises in electronic transactions. Described by the Oxford Internet Institute as "one of Britain's most acute observers of the internet and social networks", in The Telegraphas "one of the world's leading experts on digital money" and by the Centre for the Study of Financial Innovation as "one of the most user-friendly of the UK's uber-techies". He is a media commentator on electronic business issues and has appeared on BBC television and radio, Sky and other channels around the world.