Compliance Toolkit

Let's bring e-crime into the open

Peter Judge

Published: 15 Jul 2003 11:29 BST

There are some basic problems with electronic crime. We don't know how much of it there is, we can't detect it, we can't prevent it, and even if we do catch someone at it, it's hard to prosecute them. High-profile hackers like Kevin Mitnick get slapped down big-time, but is this a response to their specific crime? Or are the police and the justice system just venting their frustration at the knowledge that many others are getting away with it?

The law is doing its best within the current limitations, but even the UK government admits that there are things that need to be improved. The Home Office announced a strategy for dealing with e-crime on 14 July, led by home office minister Caroline Flint.

Now, for veteran watchers of government and IT, this might be cause for concern, not rejoicing. We have seen too many knee-jerk government initiatives diving in without understanding the issues. How can we be sure the government won't muddy the waters with short-term efforts designed to gain publicity, not fix a problem?

The initiative will not be a quick fix. It won't produce any legislation until 2004, and will spend time before that scoping the problem, with the help of the EURIM parliamentary IT lobby group and the influential think tank, the Institute for Public Policy Research (IPPR). This sounds slow, but the alternative would be meddling. From September, we can expect to see new legislation starting to be formed -- and where existing legislation works, resources being sent in new directions.

Ms Flint has mastered her brief, and is thinking about the issues. We saw her on 14 July, taking comments from EURIM and members of the industry. If the consultation goes well (and you can get involved through EURIM) we could all make cyberspace a bit safer for business and pleasure. Here are some directions I'd like to see industry and government moving in.