Less talk and more doing is needed to establish a
worldwide secure internet effort, says Simon Moores.
On Friday, I was invited to a meeting called by
opposition leader, Michael Howard (MP) at Conservative Central
Office, to examine the issues surrounding the protection of
children on the internet.
Chaired by Theresa May (MP), the gathering included the "usual
suspects"; John Carr, from the Internet Watch Foundation, several
MPs, ISPs, telcos, police and representative’s from children’s
groups, all confronted with a grave problem that defies every
attempt to legislate it out of existence.
Michael Howard opened the meeting with a short speech
congratulating the government for establishing an Internet Task
Force in 2001, and paid tribute to the work of the National Hi-tech
Crime Unit and what he described as the responsible example set by
the UK’s own internet industries in fighting paedophile
behaviour.
However, Howard expressed his dismay at the “terrifying growth
of child pornography”, which he said represented “a terrible stain
on our society”.
“We need to investigate whether the industry is doing everything
it can to tackle the problem,” he said.
"I don't want to follow the route of some countries, where
internet censorship is imposed by a state-controlled central
(proxy) server. But as an industry, we do need to constantly
explore new ways to stop child pornography making its way onto
computer screens.”
The fact that the opposition are now actively seeking opinions
on the connection between paedophilia and the wider socio-economic
consequences of serious and organised crime on the internet has to
be good news, and May commented that a real challenge lies in
determining what the position of the state should be in respect to
content.
While government should not be indifferent to the dangers
presented by the world-wide web, it is unclear what its role should
be in what is increasingly a "nanny society" and there is a thin
line between a "laudable" intention to address a serious criminal
challenge and a "laughable" consequence of any programme or
legislation that misses the mark.
What appears clear from such a meeting is that existing
legislation, such as the Obscene Publications Act, might be a
useful tool against Lady Chatterley’s Lover but has little or no
relevance in a society where the existence of "depraved and
corrupting" images are an unpleasant and increasingly pervasive
fact of life.
One imaginative suggestion was to rewrite the Act to embrace
minors and not adults, which would appear to solve the problem, but
the shadow attorney general pointed out that this would raise "the
sword of Damocles” over the heads of ISPs or even parents and would
be very difficult in practice.
Tim Loughton (MP) stressed the need for greater co-operation
from the US.
“Perhaps we should re-classify such crimes as terrorism against
children,” but he concurred with his shadow ministerial colleague,
Jim Paice (MP) that the exploitation of children is only one
manifestation of a much wider problem that embraces many different
examples of serious and organised crime on the internet.
Was anything achieved then in a meeting that was looking for
answers rather than objections from industry? Without a doubt.
ISPs, telcos such as BT and NTL and even Microsoft, are investing
heavily and working hard to find practical solutions to better
protect society’s most vulnerable surfers.
But drawing the analogy with seatbelt legislation, Loughton
pointed out that better domestic education holds much of the answer
and in the absence of any "magic bullet" and with the source of the
problem often lying with the Americans and their first amendment on
the freedom of speech or with the Russians with little or no
framework of legislation, there is very little that Britain can
achieve alone, other than offer an example of moral leadership and
hope that others follow.
This rather leads me to believe that after all is said and
done, a hell of a lot more is said than done, but that is, after
all, the story of politics and the internet.
Setting the world to rights with the collected thoughts and
opinions of leading industry analyst Dr Simon Moores of
Zentelligence.
Acting globally, Zentelligence (Research) advises
governments, suppliers, business and the media on the evolution,
application and delivery of leading-edge technologies and
specialises in the areas of eGovernment and information
security.
For further information on Zentelligence and its research,
presentation and analyst services visitwww.zentelligence.com