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Mr. Clive Betts (Sheffield, Attercliffe): For the lawyer.
Mr. Miller: Yes, that is usually the advice.
A lawyer in Texas--who appears to have lost his marbles, judging from some of what he has written--has made certain accusations against me. He says:
I understand the case made by my hon. Friend the Member for Sittingbourne and Sheppey for establishing a super-Ministry. I believe that that exists in No. 10 Downing street, because the issues cross departmental borders. Departments cover everything from the difficulties of the year 2000 problem, through intellectual property rights, to the law of libel and inciting hatred. They cannot be boxed off to one Department. It would be a neat idea to dump it all on my hon. Friend the Minister for Science, Energy and Industry--
The Minister for Science, Energy and Industry (Mr. John Battle):
I should be delighted.
Mr. Miller:
I am sure he would, given his interest in the subject, but that would present serious problems for the organisation of that complex issue.
I should like to respond to some of the points that have been made about the year 2000 problem. I acknowledge the work that the hon. Member for Esher and Walton started on that. He took some steps in the right direction. It took a long time to persuade the public, businesses and the House of the nature of the problem. I do not expect an entirely truthful answer, but I suspect that he had great difficulty with his ministerial colleagues, most of whom did not know how to switch on a computer. I note that he is closing his lips tightly.
Public awareness is rapidly increasing. I had discussions yesterday with senior people in the Department of Health about what action they are taking. Like my hon. Friend the Member for Sittingbourne and Sheppey, I am nervous of flying in 2000. Let us hope that convincing proof comes from all areas of industry that they are doing the job that needs to be done.
The problem is particularly difficult for small and medium-sized businesses. I know that my hon. Friend the Minister for Small Firms, Trade and Industry is doing a lot of work on that. There are some complexities with the front end delivery mechanisms of public services, but they are being examined in great detail. I commend to the House the most recent quarterly report from my right hon. Friend the Chancellor of the Duchy of Lancaster, which sets out, in several hundred pages, the action that the Government are taking.
As my hon. Friend the Member for Sittingbourne and Sheppey said, some web tools will be in difficulty because of the problem. Some parts of the web outside the control of this country could come to a grinding halt in 2000. We need to engage in the discussions that are starting with other countries to ensure that the advantages of the evolution of the web are not delayed by the year 2000 problem.
Dr. Julian Lewis (New Forest, East):
In the three or four minutes that the hon. Member for Ellesmere Port and Neston (Mr. Miller) has generously left me, I should like to refer to the impeccable timing of yesterday's Evening Standard report, headed "Police hunt 15 Internet bombs made by children". The report began:
Dr. Lewis:
No, I will not give way in the tiny amount of time I have available: I am sure the Minister will understand.
Another aspect of the internet which can have a lethal effect on a person's reputation is the use of the internet to defame, libel and undermine people, in private or public. I have personal experience of this. The story goes back to 1993, when a magazine called Scallywag thought it would make a reputation for itself by defaming the then Prime Minister, my right hon. Friend the Member for Huntingdon (Mr. Major), by accusing him of having an adulterous relationship with a caterer.
My right hon. Friend took legal action against the editors of the magazine and the shell company which published it, but had to discontinue it because they had no assets. Had he continued, my right hon. Friend would have run up huge costs, which would have been awarded against the magazine and its impecunious editors. The editors would then have gone bankrupt, and my right hon. Friend would have had to pay his own legal costs, which would have been enormous. After that so-called triumph, the magazine decided that anyone was fair game. If the Prime Minister could not stop it, who could?
Every married member of the then Conservative Cabinet became a fair target for accusations of adultery, and every unmarried member became a fair target--in their eyes--for accusations of secret homosexuality. Sometimes married members were accused of that as well. In November 1994, the magazine made allegations of that sort about me. By dint of finding out the identity of the printers and the main distributors--attempts had been made to keep them secret--I was able to take legal action in this country which cleared my name and collapsed the magazine as a going concern.
It was my misfortune that, at that time, the internet had just come into existence, and the magazine went on it. To this day, the same filthy lying allegations about my private and political life are repeated on the internet. I did what anybody would do under the circumstances, and where there was a course of action. I sued the internet provider, Demon Internet Services, in Britain. It promptly closed down the site, and I received a settlement which I felt was a vindication. However, the site, predictably,
was opened by an internet service provider abroad. There is no effective action I can take to prevent that provider from continuing to blacken my name.
Mrs. Cheryl Gillan (Chesham and Amersham):
I start by giving hearty congratulations to the hon. Member for Sittingbourne and Sheppey (Mr. Wyatt) on securing this debate. He has been in the House for a short time only, but he has a reputation for taking a great interest in and having great expertise on this matter. I congratulate all those who have taken part in the debate, although I am sorry that some hon. Members who have been waiting patiently have not been able to take part--particularly my hon. Friend the Member for Esher and Walton (Mr. Taylor).
The matter is of great importance to the United Kingdom, not least because we generate more than a fifth of all world internet traffic. We are one of the major players in this field, way ahead of any other European country, and it is important that we maintain our competitive advantage.
Like the hon. Member for Sittingbourne and Sheppey, I am surprised that the Minister for Science, Energy and Industry, the hon. Member for Leeds, West (Mr. Battle), is here to answer the debate, although I welcome him to the Dispatch Box. I thought that the Chancellor of the Duchy of Lancaster might put in an appearance, particularly as he has spent so much time promoting the delivery of Government services over the net and is responsible for year 2000 compliance.
Instead, the Minister--an honourable and generous gentleman--has been put in this position because the Government's policy in this area is clearly a shambles. The policy vacuum was displayed admirably by the hon. Member for Sittingbourne and Sheppey.
The Chancellor of the Duchy ought to be here, not least because he spends so much time promoting his electronic red box. I do not believe that that red box has been a great success with his colleagues. Will the Minister confirm how many Ministers currently use electronic boxes on a daily basis?
In a debate of this nature, it would be unforgivable not to pay tribute to my hon. Friend the Member for Esher and Walton. As a member of the last Government, he made much progress in this area. To be fair, the present Government have continued many of his programmes--so many that they have made no original contribution to this policy area in their 10 months in power.
The hon. Member for Eccles (Mr. Stewart) was a little curmudgeonly when he said that nothing had been done under the previous Government. My hon. Friend the Member for Esher and Walton was responsible for the Central Information Technology Unit, Government on-line, the Information Society initiative, the launch of the super-highways initiative, the launch of TaskForce
2000 and the launch of the schools on-line project. He made it possible for all schools to connect to the internet, and introduced "IT for all". That is an impressive record. My hon. Friend left the Government a golden legacy, which has not been fulfilled.
The internet has developed rapidly, and has penetrated almost every corner of the world. It has wiped out national borders, and provided a medium of communication which has enabled people to talk and do business between China and Chesham and between Amersham and Addis Ababa. Governments are rightly interested in ensuring that it is used to its fullest potential in education and business. However, some Governments and people are frightened by the implications of free, uncensored communicational transactions. My hon. Friends the Members for Mid-Dorset and North Poole (Mr. Fraser) and for New Forest, East (Dr. Lewis) outlined those problems.
Governments are worried not only because communications can go uncensored, but also, more importantly, because transactions can avoid the tax net. Many global issues--including regulatory regimes and legal implications--should be considered by the Government.
The UK has first-class service providers, and most are doubling their customer base in each year. However, the Government have lost the momentum established by the previous Government, and are not addressing the problems.
I should like to raise a few of those with the Minister. Can he tell the House what progress the DTI is making on encryption, which was mentioned by the hon. Member for Weston-super-Mare (Mr. Cotter)? The DTI's proposals have been met with some concern by providers, including the proposal to register crypto keys with third parties. Perhaps he can tell us how that will work, and why technical experts say it is not feasible.
The Opposition have raised questions about the telecommunications charges between the UK and European countries, which remain disproportionately high. What are the Government doing to address the problem?
Domain names are causing concern to providers. Will the Government be opposing the US Department of Commerce proposals on internet governance, in so far as these involve an assertion of US jurisdiction over the key resources? In a written answer, the Minister for Small Firms, Trade and Industry, the hon. Member for Hornsey and Wood Green (Mrs. Roche), admitted that there was a delay in sorting out the problem, and we need to know what action the Government are now taking.
What plans do the Government have to tax commerce on the internet? If they are working on proposals for taxation, have they considered the ease with which service providers, for example, can operate from other parts of the globe? Are they going to encourage this succesful industry by creating the right framework in which the service providers can operate?
The internet has been growing rapidly. It is entirely based on computers and cyberspace, and computers--in about 95 weeks--will face the universal deadline of the
year 2000. There can be few problems more serious or pressing than the millennium bomb, which will affect not only the internet but every business and public service in the world that has embedded chips or microprocessors in any of its systems.
As hon. Members have said, it would be wrong of me not to raise the fundamental questions relating to the Government's handling of computer compliance for 2000, which has proved to be disastrous. The Government have lost the impetus that was started by my hon. Friend the Member for Esher and Walton. TaskForce 2000 was abandoned and Action 2000 was set up, but the director has only just been appointed on a full-time basis. Initially, funding was £1 million; that rose to £10 million but, on 30 March, we read that the Prime Minister would write a blank cheque. After 10 months' inaction, the Government are now panicking.
Will the Minister confirm that Ministers first met to discuss this problem only a few weeks ago? The hon. Member for Ellesmere Port and Neston (Mr. Miller) praised the quarterly report of the Chancellor of the Duchy of Lancaster, but, if he read it properly, he would find that the Chancellor of the Duchy of Lancaster was incapable of correctly transferring information from the departmental reports to the departmental summary.
The costs associated with the problem are escalating rapidly; the Government have been remiss in allowing the impetus that was created under the previous Government to be thrown away over the past 10 months. They have neglected the business sector, and many regard Action 2000 as inaction 2000.
"That is the same Andrew Miller that was standing in the middle of the river of cash flowing from Zurich to the dream team."
The dream team was my constituent's defence. I look forward to him repeating those comments on the streets of London, so that we can make some money for the defence. These are serious issues that need to be considered.
"Police are searching for 15 lethal home-made bombs taken home by London schoolchildren. The explosive devices, copied from a design on the Internet, are from the same batch as one which blew apart a telephone box in Sidcup this month.
Mr. Battle:
Will the hon. Gentleman give way?
They are made of copper tubing packed with a simple but powerful explosive.
A police spokesman said: 'Given the damage to the phone box, which was blown apart, they could maim or even kill.'"
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