Angry Lords renew IT security calls

Science and Technology Committee debates progress on Personal Internet Security report

Lord Broers is unhappy with government progress on internet security

The House of Lords has renewed calls on the government to act on several recommendations made in its Personal Internet Security report (PDF), including new data breach notification laws and a 'kitemark' scheme to rate secure internet services.

Lord Broers, chairman of the Science and Technology Committee, said during a debate to discuss recommendations made in the 2007 report and its follow-up this year, that the Lords were gratified that the government had softened its stance in some areas.

However, he pointed to several aspects which have yet to be acted on, including compelling banks to refund customers who fall victim to internet fraud, and setting up a cross-departmental group of industry and academic experts to classify different types of electronic crime.

"Why is the government resisting? Do they think they can do this themselves? " asked Lord Broers during his opening remarks.

"We also recommended data breach notification laws. The government seems eager to admit its losses, but this is not the case for banks and industry."

Lord Broers also said that the government had resisted a BSI kitemark scheme to help differentiate internet services according to their levels of security.