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By editorial@silicon.com, 21 May 2001 18:00

COMMENT Jack Straw's announcement yesterday of new laws to tackle paedophiles on the internet is yet another rather sad demonstration of just how far a government will go to woo the electorate in the frenzied environment of an election campaign. While silicon.com applauds the government's stated intentions in this area, the content and timing of the Home Secretary's announcement will disappoint many. First things first: silicon.com agrees Straw's proposals are sensible. Protecting children online from potential paedophiles in the same way people are protected from stalkers in the real world seems to make sense. What has upset many is the timing, which puts the policy firmly in the arena of electioneering, and makes its supporters question whether it will ever be followed through if (or, more honestly, when) Labour gets put back into power. It's not just Labour that uses the web as a political football. The Tories and the Lib Dems are also guilty of hyping the internet as a den of vice in order to eke out a few more votes. For a long time the web was considered a pernicious influence on society, eroding the moral fibre of the country with a broadband pipeline of filth - and worse - into the home. Having worked hard to shake off that image - for the most part with the support of this government - it is sad to see this spectre raising its ugly head once again. For the internet industry, the last thing needed is yet another re-hashing of the same old negative stereotypes, especially when business is already far from booming. However, most disappointing about the government's proposals is the fact that they are unlikely to work. Police, already under-resourced, are unlikely to have the time, equipment or skills to take advantage of the mooted powers. With no equivalent organisation to the successful Internet Fraud Complaints Center in the US, internet crime of all kinds - not just paedophilia - goes under-reported and under-investigated. Last month silicon.com launched its Fighting Fraud campaign, which called on the government to establish such a unit, with the skills and manpower to tackle the problem. Having received widespread support from across the industry, the campaign received scant attention from policy-makers. And now this announcement. Apart from missing the point of most web-related crime - which is fraud - the obvious concern is that the government won't provide the police with the tools to use the powers. Without the resources, the powers are useless. The government needs to deliver on this, otherwise claims of cynical electioneering will be yet again proved true.