London conference delegates support Commonwealth cyber law

UK Foreign Secretary, William Hague

London conference delegates support Commonwealth cyber law

A London cyberspace conference has expressed support for a Commonwealth model law on cyber crime.

UK Foreign Secretary and conference chairman, William Hague, made this known at the closing ceremony of the two-day conference on Wednesday.

Reports say that the Commonwealth Model Law on Computer and Computer Related Crime provides an ‘off-the-shelf’ tool to leverage the Commonwealth’s shared legal traditions.

Implications

Hague said that by adopting and implementing harmonised legal regimes, international cooperation between member nations and the global community to effectively combat cyber crime was guaranteed.

He further said that the law would assist developing countries to build institutional and legislative capacity in fighting cyber crime through the sharing of expertise and best practices from existent resources and treaties.

Agreement

Mr Hague said the conference agreed that all sectors, including private companies and individuals as well as governments and law enforcement agencies had responsibilities in preventing cyber crime.

Hague however urged governments to take an appropriate and proportionate interest in improving the safety and reliability of cyberspace while recognising that the expertise lies with industry partners.

He was quoted as saying: “Delegates encouraged the private sector to lead development of improved internet security products, systems, services and standards in cyberspace and to make the market easier to navigate for consumers.” 

He added that delegates thought government and industry had a shared responsibility to do more to prevent cyber crime, in industry’s case for example, through more secure devices, systems and services.

NAN/ Adekusibe/Ekata