House of Lords challenges Government and industry policy on Internet security

摘要

After a year of research and public inquiry the House of Lords Science and Technology Committee has produced an action programme for the Government in order to tackle what the Committee regards as a necessary series of measures. The Report entitled Personal Internet Security was published in August with the remit to consider individual rather than business experience of the Internet from a security perspective. Thus, recommendations focus, for example, on theft of personal data but not in relation to industrial espionage, business continuity, risks to services or failure of critical national infrastructure. The Committee believes that the risks for the individual while engaging with the Internet are manifold: "they threaten personal security - that is to say, they may undermine the individual's ability to control the information that they have entered into or stored on connective devices such as PCs, mobile telephones or databases operated by commercial organisations, government agencies or others". As a result, victims typically suffer financial loss through fraud, loss of reputation or even, in extreme cases by being accused of crimes they did not commit. On top of this there is the physical or psychological harm that can befall an Internet user as a result of predatory paedophiles, online bullying of children by their peers and naive adults who put themselves at risk by the injudicious disclosure of personal information online.