Government ignoring web threats, say angry lords

The Government was accused today of burying its head in the sand over internet security following a non-committal response to a report on the subject by a House of Lords committee.

The Earl of Erroll, a member of the Science and Technology subcommittee examining personal internet security, complained that the Government had " dismissed every recommendation out of hand."

The report came down firmly on the side of the user in security matters, saying application vendors and service providers could even be held liable for avoidable breaches. Other recommendations included:

• Police should get more resources to fight e-crime.
  
• A centralised and automated system for the reporting of e-crime
  
• A law to force banks and other online traders to report brea hes of security.
  
• A “kite mark” for secure internet services.
  

A statement from the subcommittee said the Government had made no commitment to accept any of the major recommendations.

Lord Erroll said the response was a huge disappointment. "We heard compelling evidence of substantial amounts of e-crime and we were entirely persuaded that individuals were unable, on their own, to continue to keep themselves secure.

“The Internet relies on the confidence of millions of users, and that confidence is in danger of being undermined unless we can reverse the trends that our witnesses told us about.

“We don’t know quite how bad things have become today - there are no reliable figures for e-crime. We recommended that the Government set up a group to develop a scheme for recording all forms of e-crime.

"The reply just says that the Government ‘do not see that there is a need’ for this. If you have no idea of the scale of the problem, how can you design solutions?

“Throughout our inquiry we tried to think outside the box, to look ahead ten years at what the Internet might be like, taking into account the emerging risks and challenges today. That’s why our recommendations concentrated on incentives - we must ensure that everyone is motivated to improve security."