Human rights experts criticise proposed legislation saying new law could be used to target legitimate whistleblowers

This article is more than 5 years old

This article is more than 5 years old

Government plans that mean computer users deemed to have damaged national security, human welfare, the economy or the environment will face a life sentence have been criticised by experts who warn that the new law could be used to target legitimate whistleblowers.

Last week the Joint Committee on Human Rights raised concerns about the proposals and the scope of such legislation.

“Legal certainty requires that criminal offences are precisely defined so that individuals know how to avoid such sanctions,” its report stated. “Vagueness is not permissible in the definition of criminal offences.”

Professor Peter Sommer, cyber security academic and expert witness, said legitimate whistleblowers could be targeted, adding that existing legislation under the Computer Misuse Act, which allows a maximum sentence of 10 years, was sufficient.

“There is almost certainly adequate legislation to deal with situations that arise in relation to computer misuse … after that if you want to pursue a matter of terrorism against national security, for example, then pursue that matter under the appropriate terrorism legislation.”

Sommer said he suspected the plan was prompted by politicians who wanted “the opportunity to stand up and sound tough”, but he warned there could be serious consequences. “If this is not more carefully defined it could go after people who you and I and many others may classify as a whistleblower.”

The executive director of Open Rights Group, Jim Killock, warned that the legislation was too widely drawn and called for greater protection for potential whistleblowers.

“As the internet affects more areas of our lives, computer legislation drafted in one context may be more widely applied than originally intended. We would hope that an increase in penalties under the Computer Misuse Act would be matched with additional protections – for example, through a public interest defence.”

The government says the legislation was needed to deal with catastrophic cyber attacks “which result in loss of life, serious illness or injury or serious damage to national security, or a significant risk thereof”.

It says that as well as targeting cyber terrorists, the new offence in the proposed update to the Computer Misuse Act 1990 would also hand harsher sentences to those hackers carrying out industrial espionage, believed to be a growing menace affecting UK business.

A Home Office spokesperson said: “Serious and organised crime blights lives and causes misery across the UK. It is a threat to our national security and costs hard-working taxpayers at least £24bn a year.”

He added that the reliance on computer systems and the degree to which they are interlinked is “ever increasing and a major cyber attack on our critical infrastructure would have grave consequences.

“Through this bill we will ensure that in the event of such a serious attack those responsible would face the justice they deserve.”