UK Wants To Update Cybercrime Laws
from the good-and-bad dept
Over in the UK, they've realized that it's about time they updated some of their cybercrime laws. This makes sense, since most computer crime laws are pretty much out of date, but since so few politicians seem to really understand technology, the fear is that any update may make things worse. Already, the report mentioned in the article recommends increasing jail time for "hackers." That may be good or it may not be, but just using the generic term "hackers" is a bad sign. The problem isn't with hackers, but it should be focused on what crime (if any) they've really committed. The report does note that the police do need to be better trained in how to deal with computer crimes, and that certainly makes sense. Still, politicians and computer crime laws seem to have a very bad history together, and it's unlikely this time will be any different. The problem is usually that the politicians don't understand cybercrime, and thus, they over-react to it. Until a new generation of tech savvy individuals gets elected to office, this is going to be an ongoing problem.
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Techno-nationalism
In the UK, the internet is not very popular, and computers are viewed as an instrument of American imperialism. It might be interesting to watch UK politicians shape the law in a way that assumes "hackers" are foreign. The author of the Harry Potter series really hates Americans and wanted to make sure that no American actors be in the films, so making a parody of the movie with American voices may be considered the highest form of treason.
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