Clause 35 - Making, supplying or obtaining articles for use in computer misuse offences
Police and Justice Bill
11:30 am
Derek Wyatt (Sittingbourne and Sheppey, Labour)
May I reassure the hon. Lady? I had a ten-minute Bill on the Computer Misuse Act 1990, based on the all-party group on the internet’s inquiry, which was almost a Select Committee-style inquiry.
The provision has the approval of the whole computer industry, so I am fascinated that the hon. Lady has picked up on groups of people on the internet who do not like it. We have worked with the industry for the past two and a half years to get it right. Moreover, we have worked with the Home Office and with the industry’s approval. We have been in and out of the Home Office and worked on the clauses and their interpretation. Last week, I was with some of the team who were trying to understand better how we could tweak and rephrase things. I am absolutely confident that we have got it right. If I did not think that, I would say so.
I applaud the way in which the Home Office has worked with MPs from all sides over the past few years on this tiny piece of legislation. It repeals the 1990 Act—imagine what a computer looked like in 1990—and will be the best piece of legislation, I believe, in the world. It beats what America or Australia are trying to do. The hon. Lady should have more confidence in the way in which hon. Members on both sides of the House have worked on the issue, including on the Government amendment.