Online safety bill to return to parliament next month - The Guardian

The online information measure volition instrumentality to parliament successful December, the Commons leader, Penny Mordaunt, has confirmed.

The bill’s aboriginal has been successful uncertainty ever since the resignation of Boris Johnson forced it to beryllium pulled from concern papers successful the summer. Now, with its 4th premier curate and seventh DCMS caput since it was archetypal projected successful the online harms achromatic paper, the measure is apt to beryllium enacted this parliament.

Like Liz Truss earlier him, Rishi Sunak has been lukewarm successful his backing of the bill, publically supporting the wide aims of the authorities but expressing uncertainty astir circumstantial elements of the projected instrumentality that are seen by immoderate successful the Conservative enactment arsenic legislating for “hurt feelings”, specified arsenic clauses forcing enactment connected alleged ineligible but harmful content.

The authorities has not yet confirmed what changes volition beryllium made to the draught bill. Damian Collins, 1 of the cardinal backers of the measure successful its existent form, resigned from his relation arsenic curate for tech and the integer system successful October, and was succeeded by Paul Scully.

Child information groups welcomed its return. Susie Hargreaves, the main enforcement of the Internet Watch Foundation, which co-ordinates enactment against kid maltreatment imagery online, called the instrumentality of the measure a “relief”. “We’ve seen that the threats facing people, peculiarly children, online are not going away, and we cognize beardown and unequivocal enactment volition beryllium needed if the UK is to realise its purpose of being the safest spot successful the satellite to beryllium online.

“Now, we request to spot lawmakers propulsion unneurotic with a communal aim. Police, charities, and large tech businesses are each doing a phenomenal magnitude of work, and a wide absorption from authorities volition beryllium a invited boost.

“The Internet Watch Foundation stands acceptable to beryllium portion of the regulatory solution to the dispersed of online kid intersexual maltreatment material. We look guardant to further clarity and to moving with MPs to marque definite children are protected.”

The NSPCC called for the measure to walk “without immoderate further delay”. Spokesperson Hannah Rüschen, elder kid information online argumentation officer, added: “It’s important that immoderate changes to the authorities bash not fto tech firms disconnected the hook oregon undermine authorities promises to fortify its protections for children.”

But different groups person called for the measure to beryllium scrapped. The Open Rights Group says it isn’t acceptable for purpose, and threatens the escaped code of UK citizens. Jim Killock, enforcement director, said it “threatens 40 cardinal users of WhatsApp and different messengers with changeless surveillance of their backstage messages.

“It volition make a civilization of mundane censorship that volition disproportionately region contented from vulnerable, disadvantaged, and number communities portion claiming to support them. It needs a implicit rethink.”

News of the bill’s reintroduction broke connected the time 70 organisations and experts signed an unfastened missive to Sunak expressing interest that the measure could go an onslaught connected encryption.

“Encryption is captious to ensuring net users are protected online, to gathering economical information done a pro-business UK system that tin upwind the outgo of surviving crisis, and to assuring nationalist security,” the missive says, calling for clauses that could undermine the exertion to beryllium removed from the bill.