Net Security Urgent but Liability Laws Not Needed, U.K. Official Says
The U.K. government continues to resist legislators’ calls to hold ISPs and software vendors liable for Internet security lapses but agreed Tuesday that its handling of e- crime need updating urgently. A Science and Technology Committee hearing in the House of Lords followed a scathing 2007 report on personal Internet security accusing government, ISPs and others of a laissez-faire attitude on the issue (WID Aug 10 p2). October’s government response to the report was “a little bit bland,” a legislator said Tuesday.
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The report faulted the government as unfairly holding Internet users responsible for online security, a charge the government denied. On Tuesday, Labor Lord Shriti Vadera, the parliamentary under-secretary of state for business and competitiveness, agreed that the burden should be spread among ISPs, hardware and software vendors and others. Consumers can’t be expected to bear total responsibility for protecting themselves, but they must know how to use the system, she said. The government must show leadership, she said.
Lawmakers want ISPs held liable to those harmed when they fail immediately to isolate a computer on a network sending spam or malicious code. Software vendors should pay increased attention to security, they said. Vadera urged an ISP code of conduct. She disputed the need for a law making software vendors liable for negligence, saying it would raise interoperability issues and be hard to enforce in the U.K. alone. But the government is interested in discussing liability at the EU level, she said.
Consumers already are protected from negligence under common law, Vadera said, but the government needs to raise the bar on a software industry often in an unacceptable “rush to market” products, creating Internet security problems. At EU level, there must be some “very basic things around licensing agreements,” she said.
Lawmakers grilled a Home Office official on efforts to enliven reporting on and enforcement against e-crimes. Vernon Coaker, parliamentary under-secretary of state for crime reduction, said discussions continue on setting up a national fraud reporting center that also would process e- crime reports. But a lawmaker complained of too much talk amid rising e-crime. He urged bringing the talks to a conclusion now Coaker said the government, too, feels a sense of urgency.
Lack of resources and police expertise may hamper enforcement, a lawmaker said. He cited the “knotty problem” presented by Phorm, an online ad-serving system that British Telecom tried out secretly. Several subscribers, convinced the system is illegal, “hauled themselves around” to law enforcement offices, which ignored them, the legislator said. He accused authorities of passing the buck on Phorm’s legality.
Lawmakers welcomed apparently increased government flexibility on introducing better protection for Internet users, a committee spokesman said. But, he added, Coaker promised to update the committee on developments and members “will be keen to make sure” the government acts to maintain public confidence in online safety.