Lords: Government must do better on e-crime

The government must act now or risk losing public confidence in the security of the internet, an influential House of Lords committee has found.

A wide-ranging inquiry into personal internet security conducted by the House of Lords Science and Technology Committee has "highlighted the threat to the future of the internet posed by e-crime".

The House of Lords said in a statement: "The government must do more to protect individual internet users."

The report said: "The internet, while still a powerful force for good, has increasingly become the playground for criminals. Today's e-criminals are highly skilled, organised and motivated by financial gain. Individual internet users are increasingly victimised."

The Science and Technology Committee criticised the "laissez-faire attitude" taken not only by the government but also by manufacturers of hardware and software, retailers, internet service providers (ISPs), businesses, such as banks, that operate online, the police and the criminal justice system.

The Lords report said: "The government has insisted in evidence to this inquiry that the responsibility for personal internet security ultimately rests with the individual. This is no longer realistic and compounds the perception that the internet is a lawless 'Wild West'. It is clear to us that many organisations with a stake in the internet could do more to promote personal internet security."

The IT industry caught flak in the report for not historically making security a priority. While this is gradually changing, more radical and rapid change is needed if the industry is to "keep pace with the ingenuity of criminals and avoid a disastrous loss of confidence in the internet".

As well as self-regulation, the committee recommended that the government explore, at the European level, the introduction of vendor liability within the IT industry.

Banks and online retailers are also not doing enough to protect customers, the report said.

On the law-enforcement end, the committee recommended the government increase the resources and skills available to the police and criminal justice system to catch and prosecute e-criminals and establish a centralised and automated system, administered by law enforcement, for the reporting of e-crime.

Tom Espiner writes for ZDNet UK