cat

[Heather <heather@teknopunx.co.uk>]

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I'm only forwarding this to see what you're reaction is-I haven't had time to formulate my own opinion of it yet! (but I think it validates Tom's views)
H
E-minister defends snooping law
http://www.vnunet.com/News/1111590

By Steven Mathieson in Brighton
[26 Sep 2000]

Ecommerce minister Patricia Hewitt has defended the UK government's
unpopular Regulation of Investigatory Powers (RIP) Act as a price worth
paying to fight child pornography.
"Some of you will disagree with the conclusions I've reached," she told
a
fringe meeting at the Labour Party conference in Brighton on Tuesday.
"We
shouldn't kid ourselves that this will solve hardcore crime on the
internet,
but we shouldn't just throw up our hands."

"I'm not prepared as a parent and a civil libertarian to do that," she
told
the meeting, which was run by web decency watchdog the Internet Watch
Foundation.

Hewitt, once a noted civil liberties campaigner, detailed the kind of
crime
she felt the RIP Act will help to fight.

"The internet has changed the scale of [paedophiles'] operations," she
said.
"We know of at least one paedophile club, the admission to which - and
this
puts Gary Glitter in the shade - is 10,000 images."

But Hewitt said that technology could let people make their own choices
on
censorship, citing the example of a Channel 4 film which was shown
censored
on TV - as regulations dictate - and uncensored on Channel 4's website.
"Those who wanted the full frontal [version] could have it on the net,"
she
said.

"My first reaction was this is ridiculous. But we came to the view that
it
opened up greater consumer choice," she said, referring to a committee
that
is currently discussing options for the government's white paper on
communications, which is due out by Christmas.

"We have to look at how we empower consumers to make their own
decisions,"
she added.

The white paper is expected to suggest ways of standardising regulations

between converging types of media such as TV, film and the web.



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