The House of Lords Communications Committee will continue hearing
evidence for its inquiry The Internet: to regulate or
not to regulate? on Tuesday 15 May. The Committee will
question representatives of the National Crime Agency and the
National Police Chiefs’ Council. Also giving evidence are
witnesses from the Internet Watch Foundation and the Metropolitan
Police.
The Committee will ask the witnesses about the challenges of
dealing with internet crime; how their organisations seek to
remove illegal online content; and whether they have enough
resources to deal with the scale of cybercrime.
The evidence session will begin at 3.30pm in Committee Room 2 of
the House of Lords. The Committee will hear from:
- Will Kerr, Director of Vulnerabilities, National Crime Agency
- Donald Toon, Director of Prosperity, National Crime Agency
- Chief Constable Stephen Kavanagh, National Police Chiefs’
Council
- Susie Hargreaves, Chief Executive, Internet Watch Foundation
- Detective Superintendent Phil Tomlinson, Head of the National
Digital Exploitation Service, Metropolitan Police
Over the course of the session the Committee are likely to ask
the following questions:
- How are hate speech and similar offences distinguished from
speech which is merely offensive?
- Is it reasonable to expect platforms or other internet
hosting services to self-regulate content online?
- How do you distinguish terrorist content from legitimate
speech, especially where the content endorses a conservative
religious worldview?
- Does the adoption of encryption in various forms (including
encrypted web browsers such as the Dark Net and end-to-end
encryption services such as Whatsapp) make the task of law
enforcement more difficult?
- What technological tools are used by law enforcement agencies
or stakeholders in determining whether content is illegal? What
is the human oversight of such technology tools?
