Internet: Safety

(asked on 9th April 2019) - View Source

Question to the Department for Digital, Culture, Media & Sport:

To ask the Secretary of State for Digital, Culture, Media and Sport, with reference to the Online Harms White Paper published on 8 April, whether the proposed duty of care applies to (a) internet of things manufacturers, (b) internet of things service providers and (c) electricity companies' smart meters.


Answered by
Margot James Portrait
Margot James
This question was answered on 23rd April 2019

The Online Harms White Paper consultation proposes that the duty of care applies to companies that provide services or tools that allow, enable or facilitate users to share or discover user-generated content, or interact with each other online. It, therefore, would not typically apply to consumer smart devices. Harms suffered by individuals that result directly from a breach of data protection, breach of cyber-security or hacking are also excluded from scope.

However, the Government has taken a number of actions to increase the security of consumer smart devices. In October 2018, DCMS published the Code of Practice for Consumer Internet of Things (IoT) Security to support manufacturers in building strong security into smart products by design. We recognise that further action is needed, and we will soon be publishing a consultation on our regulatory proposals regarding consumer IoT security.

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