Extract from Lords repeat
of a statement on UK Terrorism Threat Level
The Minister of State, Home Office ()
(Con):...The noble Lord, , outlined
the necessity for free speech but with limits, of course. If it
impinges on the threat to the individual, it crosses the line. He
talked about terrorist and extremists’ use of the internet. I could
not agree with him more. I hope that the online
harms White Paper will become a Bill very soon and deal
with some of those issues, particularly the duty on internet
providers to their users. He also asked which places had benefited
from protective security. He will know that I cannot talk about
that, for the benefit of those places. He mentioned the police
having to do their day job and police numbers. I hope that I went
through that in sufficient detail but I will top it up with
additional information for him...
Extracts from Lords
consideration of the Communications Act (e-Commerce) (EU Exit)
Regulations 2020
(Lab) [V]:...Thirdly, although
scams account for much of the downside of what happens in this
world, as we have heard, there are also concerns about vulnerable
people being drawn into conversations or receiving information they
would not wish to receive. Effectively, this is another example of
the online harms issue. Can
the Minister confirm where we are with the forthcoming
online harms legislation, and
that the consumer and customer issues that this SI raises will be
dealt with in it?
The Parliamentary Under-Secretary of State, Department for Digital,
Culture, Media and Sport ()
(Con):...On the online harms legislation, our
position remains unchanged. We expect to publish the full
government response by the end of the year and introduce the
legislation early next year...
To read the whole debate, CLICK
HERE
Extract from Commons
consideration of the Draft Electronic Communications and Wireless
Telegraphy (Amendment) (European Electronic Communications Code and
Eu Exit) Regulations 2020
(Newcastle
upon Tyne Central) (Lab):...On Ofcom’s resources, and I have
declared an interest, I am somewhat surprised that it will take on
the additional powers and responsibilities under the SI without any
additional resources. We know that at some point, when we get the
online harms Bill—again at some point—Ofcom will
be involved in the regulation of high risk vendors. A number of
additional requirements are being placed upon it, so will the
Minister discuss the need for additional resources in the round
with other Ministers whose responsibilities come under Ofcom’s
purview? I am quite convinced that Ofcom does not have the
resources it needs to take up all those additional duties...
To read the whole debate, CLICK
HERE
Extract from Westminster
Hall debate on Online Scams
(Makerfield) (Lab):...The online
harmsBill seems the perfect opportunity to deliver that.
By including financial harms, there is a greater responsibility on
the search engines and social media platforms to identify and
remove harmful content. I understand why the White Paper is limited
in scope. Platforms and sites will be required to take reasonable
steps to identify and prevent user-generated child sexual
exploitation and abuse, and terrorist content. However, the tools
that the scammers use to target their victims—social engineering
and grooming—are similar to those used by criminals in financial
fraud. The same requirement should be extended to cover the scam
content defrauding people of their money and causing immense mental
anguish and harm, let alone financial anguish.
There is also a strong case for ensuring that the Bill covers
both paid-for advertising and user-generated content, because the
scammers use both. As Which? points out, if we do not tackle the
user-generated scam content, scammers will adapt. They will use
that loophole and move from posting scam ads to organic
user-generated scam content. There is support for that approach
from Which?, UK Finance and the FCA.
I hope the Minister will commit to widening the scope of the
online harms Bill. If he will not, will he
introduce proposals for further legislative action to protect
people from online scams effectively? The Government have said
that their objective is for the UK to be the safest place in the
world to go online. We have a chance now to make that a
reality...
To read the whole debate, CLICK
HERE
