Lords refuse to back down after e-crime whitewash

 

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By Barry Collins

Posted on 18 Feb 2008 at 10:40

The House of Lords Science and Technology Committee is planning to heap pressure on the government, after it ignored the vast majority of its report into Personal Internet Security.

Committee member Lord Erroll accused the government of "putting its head in the sand" after it largely rejected the Lords' recommendations in its official response last October.

Now the Lords plan to canvass opinion on the inadequacy of the government's response from the industry and net security experts. "Because [The Committee] was disappointed with the government's response, it has invited stakeholder bodies to submit their opinion on the response. It will produce a mini-report on the back of that," says a spokesman for the Science and Technology Committee.

"It hopes to put pressure on the government to take some of the recommendations a bit more seriously," he adds.

The Committee initially suggested a range of measures, including a "kite mark scheme" for internet service providers and security software. It also wanted to make software manufacturers legally responsible for security flaws and establish a central e-crime police unit.

Lord Broers, the committee chairman, claimed in the report that the internet "is increasingly perceived as a sort of 'wild west', outside the law." The government, however, denied the accusation in its official response, claiming "we would refute the suggestion that the public has lost confidence in the internet and that lawlessness is rife." However, when pressed by PC Pro, the government admitted it had no statistics to back up its claim.

The Committee plans to release its new report "soon after Easter," according to the spokesperson.