Lords to debate online security

A debate about the House of Lords' Science and Technology Select Committee's two reports into internet security will be available to watch online this week. The committee produced a report in August 2007 that referred to the internet as the "wild west", though it was largely ignored by the government. However, after a series of data protection scandals, a second report was produced in July this year and there are signs that the government is taking it more seriously. "Some of our recommendations, such as the establishment of a specialist e-crime police unit, are now being acted on by government," Lord Broers, who chaired the reports, said. "But others, such as software developers' liability for damage caused by security flaws and enabling people to report online fraud directly to the police rather than their bank, have either been ignored or are awaiting action," Lord Broers continued. www.parliament.uk/hlscience