Lock down the law, Computer Weekly's campaign to persuade the
Government to prioritise a review of the UK's archaic computer
crime laws, shifts up a gear this week with the introduction of an
online petition enabling our readers to offer their support.
Currently, attempts to investigate and prosecute cybercriminals are
hampered because the UK's computer crime laws are outdated and
contain important gaps.
The world was a very different place when the laws regulating the
abuse of IT systems were framed. The Computer Misuse Act 1990, for
instance, relies on the concept of prosecution for unauthorised
access - and is therefore not appropriate to the Internet age,
where Web sites welcome suppliers and customers into corporate
systems as a matter of course.
Similarly, existing UK law makes it hard for the police to
prosecute denial of service attacks since, if it is not a crime to
send one e-mail, how can it be a crime to send many?
Even when prosecutions of cybercriminals are successful, sentences
are too low: all too often it is a fine or a suspended sentence.
In order to change this unsatisfactory situation, Computer Weekly
is lobbying the Government to review and update cyber law; and so
too is the National High-Tech Crime Unit. But the strongest voice
of all, the UK's IT professional community at large, has remained
silent. Now you have the chance to change that.
For an industry sector boasting so many user groups, the IT
industry has a pretty poor track record of making its voice heard
by government. Recently, there has been a dearth of IT user input
on a series of government measures, among them the roll-out of
broadband Internet services, the Regulation of Investigatory Powers
Act and the IR35 tax changes.
If you've never been a victim of a hack attack, have never had to
work through the night to clear your organisation's systems of a
virus, and have never have seen your department brought to a
standstill by a denial of service attack, then you may well think
that signing the petition is a waste of your time, and decide not
to engage with this issue.
But if you have suffered any or all of these fates and would like
to see the police given a fighting chance to crack down on the
people responsible, we would urge you to add your weight to our
campaign by logging on to
www.infosec.co.uk/
crimesurvey and putting your name to our petition.
It is essential that any move by the Government to review and
remodel legislation should be made only after full consultation
with the IT industry. If Whitehall perceives a groundswell of
feeling among IT professionals, it will be far likelier to seek
such consultation with them.
It's no understatement to say that the future of UK computing
depends on you.