Lord Kamall
Main Page: Lord Kamall (Conservative - Life peer)Department Debates - View all Lord Kamall's debates with the Home Office
(1 year, 5 months ago)
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Lord Sharpe of Epsom (Con)
I do not think that anybody disagrees with that. I am just saying that we need to get it right and do it properly.
Lord Kamall (Con)
My Lords, the Vallance report talks about the fact that, under the Computer Misuse Act, professionals conducting legitimate cybersecurity research in the public interest currently face the risk of prosecution. It asks us to look at the examples of France, Israel and the United States. Is my noble friend the Minister aware of any possible unintended consequences of modifying the Act to align it with the changes in those countries?
Lord Sharpe of Epsom (Con)
Yes; one of the considerations that is being looked at is the various potential unintended consequences of making some of these changes. As I say, they involve a fairly significant invasion of privacy—I suppose that is the right phrase. There may well be circumstances in which that is appropriate but, obviously, who does it and how they do it are incredibly difficult.