There have been various calls for amendment over the past few years. These included a Private Member's Bill, introduced by the Earl of Northesk in 2002; but like most Private Members' Bills, it failed. Last year the Government said that it would overhaul the legislation as soon as Parliamentary time allowed.
MP Brian White, a leading Labour backbencher on technology issues, told Reuters that the Home Office plans to have a draft bill ready in the next six months. He expressed concern that, "Organized crime is getting into this area of criminality in a really big way, and they are way ahead of government". He added, "We need to address this in internet time."
To this end the All Party Parliamentary Internet Group, a discussion forum between new media industries and parliamentarians, is holding a public inquiry on the issue, so that the views of industry and experts can be incorporated into the Government overhaul of the Act.
A public hearing is being held today, with Andrew Pinder, the e-envoy, in attendance, together with representatives from the Home Office, industry and security providers.
Denial of service attacks represent one of the most obvious loopholes in the 1990 Act. These attacks involve a server being deliberately flooded with requests for information, causing it to collapse due to overloading.
The loophole exists because the Act expects the criminal activity to have involved access to or modification of material. With a denial of service attack it can be argued that there is no such access. However, in England, it is possible that such an attack could also constitute an offence under the Criminal Damage Act. In Scotland, it could potentially be prosecuted as malicious mischief.
The Group hopes to issue its report in June.
