The UK should introduce several new offences to “call time on the Wild West online” , according to a report on the Online Safety Bill by a joint committee of MPs and Peers.
Alongside these new offences, the committee backed Culture Secretary Nadine Dorries’ promise of criminal sanctions for senior management figures at the tech companies within months of the bill becoming law.
The report recommended that tech companies designate a senior manager as their “Safety Controller” who would be personally liable if they fail to comply with the new law, potentially leading to prison sentences “at the end of an exhaustive legal process”.
Sir Peter Wanless, the chief executive of NSPCC, said: “Having a named manager responsible for safety, with criminal sanctions for gross failure, will focus minds on child protection at the very top of companies.”
Committee chair Damian Collins said: “The era of self-regulation for big tech has come to an end. The companies are clearly responsible for services they have designed and profit from, and need to be held to account for the decisions they make.”
Among the report’s other recommendations were to scrap a controversial power allowing the secretary of state to “modify Codes of Practice to reflect government policy” as it risked exposing Ofcom as an independent regulator to political interference.
Labour has welcomed the bill but argues that it does not go far enough to tackle fraud and that people doing shopping online won’t be protected from scams even once it does become law due to the way it references fraud.
Source : skynews
