Crime: Computer Misuse
Lord Dykes (Liberal Democrat Spokesperson for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs) asked Her Majesty's Government:
Lord West of Spithead (The Parliamentary Under-Secretary of State, Home Office): The Government are committed to ensuring that actions should be legal or illegal according to their merits, rather than the medium used. As such, all legislation criminalises offences regardless of the means used to commit the offence. Where there is a need to revise legislation to take account of new criminal techniques we seek to do so. We liaise regularly with the prosecution and law enforcement authorities to ensure the criminal law remains fit for purpose.
Although the law relating to e-crime is generally fit for purpose, we have recently legislated, in the Police and Justice Act 2006, to reform the criminal law to ensure that the Computer Misuse Act 1990 is strengthened. In addition, the Fraud Act 2006 has created a general offence of fraud that will deal with such crimes in a technology-neutral way.
It will also ensure that the offence continues to be relevant as methods and technologies deployed by fraudsters change and develop. The Act also created other new offences including a new offence of possessing articles for use in fraud, and a new offence of making or supplying articles for use in fraud. These offences will also assist in tackling online fraudsters.
