• silicon.com
• Technology
• Security

By Sarah Left, 15 August 2000 00:30

NEWS silicon.com is today launching its 'Back the Act' campaign to promote secure ecommerce - restoring consumer confidence in online shopping, and putting an end to all online businesses being damaged by the mistakes of the few. In response to a series of high profile online security breaches at Barclays, Powergen, Safeway and Woolworths, we're asking businesses to back the Data Protection Act and call for the government to give greater resources to the Data Protection Commissioner (DPC). With 100 employees and a £5m budget, the DPC is not able to enforce the Act and be the advocate that consumers and reputable ebusinesses need. Poor consumer confidence in ecommerce will continue to damage online firms until the DPC proves it will investigate online security breaches and make sure companies running ecommerce services keep their customers' data secure. We're calling on the DPC to take action against companies who fail to keep consumer data secure and to force companies to tell all affected customers when their details have been exposed online. As part of the campaign, shadow technology minister, Alan Duncan, has written to the Commons Trade and Industry select committee, calling for a review of the DPC's role and resources. "I want to be sure that the political system can make the law keep up with technology," Duncan said. "Consumer confidence is essential if ecommerce is going to flourish, so I want the select committee to take a look at data protection law and make sure its up to date." If you would like to lend your support to our campaign, contact us at backtheact@silicon.com . You can read the full text of the Back the Act campaign at http://www.silicon.com/a39097 .