15th January 2007
ISPA HOLDS STIMULATING DISCUSSION ON PERSONAL INTERNET SECURITY
HOSTED BY: 
ISPA held its annual Parliamentary Advisory Forum in the Attlee Suite in Portcullis House (16 January). The event, hosted by Phil Willis MP, Chair of the House of Commons Select Committee on Science and Technology, was attended by Parliamentarians, Government officials, law enforcement representatives and leading figures from industry.
Lord Erroll, Phil Willis MP, Matthew Henton
The keynote address was delivered by Professor the Lord Broers, Chair of the House of Lords Science and Technology, leading the inquiry into Personal Internet Security. Lord Broers underlined the importance of educating users of the nature of the threat faced on the Internet. He added that whilst an increased effort by all stakeholders would bring greater security, the main difficulties arose from the fact that the majority of Internet crime originated in abroad. Lord Broers said that the inquiry's report would be published in July 2007.
Matthew Henton, Head of Marketing at Brightview and a member of the ISPA council evaluated the measures that Brightview took to protect their customers from receiving excessive Spam as part of an overview of an ISPs perspective on the Personal Internet Security. He acknowledged that whilst some responsibility lay with the ISP's to raise awareness of the tools that are available to protect customers, commending initiatives such as the SpotSpam project, user behaviour posed more threats than technology.
The delegates were then treated to an entertaining and informative speech from Dave Martin, Information Security Specialist at LogicaCMG, who sponsored the event. He advocated a pragmatic coherent approach to Internet security; confirming that ISPs, Government and the public would have important roles to play. He focused on three requirements: a need for targeted tailored advice to educate the public; a proliferation and marketing of tools such as firewalls, secure wireless networks and anti-spam products; greater global co-operation including a memorandum of understanding between countries.
Lord Broers was replaced on the panel by Lord Erroll, who is sitting on the House of Lords enquiry into Personal Internet Security for the question and answer session, who began with the caution that laws and regulations often fail to prevent what they forbid. 
Dave Martin, Lord Erroll, Phil Willis, Mathew Henton
The panel discussion was interesting and varied, with challenging questions prompting fiery debate. A focus on Spam drew points from Andrew Miller MP and Richard Cox of Spamhaus. Questions about the role of police were answered by Charles Miller of the Home Office who spoke of the difficulties caused by the drive for localised policing. Lord Erroll reiterated his support for localised policing and also his belief of the need for an overarching body to tackle level two crimes.
The panel concluded along with many of the delegates that only a combined multi-stakeholder approach targeting the economic and technological factors would act to increase security, before the reception where food and drink fuelled extensive further debate.
Please view the presentation from the PAF below