| Previous Section | Index | Home Page |
Mr. Allan: Is my hon. Friend aware of the phenomenon of "granny chose a weak password and lost her house"? It applies where a grandson uses a computer to send something with a signature that was apparently valid, and--exactly for the reasons to which my hon. Friend referred--the consumer is held liable. If people cannot have confidence in their passwords, and the security of their home tenure, it will undermine the whole of e-commerce.
Mr. Cotter: I thank my hon. Friend for that intervention. In the light of earlier comments about including both genders, it would cover not only grannies but grandfathers. The Bill needs some tightening in respect of signatures.
Problems arise in relation to secondary powers and provisions that confer legislative powers on other Departments. The Minister for Small Business and E-Commerce referred to sunset regulation. She also answered a question about whether the Home Office would be able to overrule the Bill, and made several other points. I look forward to hearing those points strengthened later in the debate.
My hon. Friend the Member for Somerton and Frome (Mr. Heath) referred to the fact that the Lord Chancellor's Department had stopped the transmission of an e-mail, and asked the Minister for an explanation. I understand that it contained a somewhat rude reference to a judge. I am not sure whether that was grounds for not permitting the transmission.
Barbara Follett (Stevenage):
I welcome the opportunity to speak in this important and timely debate, because, in the last few days of the second millennium, it is fitting that we should prepare for the demands of the third. Those demands are already with us. It is not only the century and the millennium that are coming to an end;
During our debate, people throughout Britain have been buying clothes in America, books in London, shares in Australia, gifts in Scotland, cars in Bristol and groceries down the road--all without leaving their homes. Sitting at screens in their bedrooms and living rooms, people are looking for jobs, debiting and crediting their bank accounts, downloading information and entertainment and chatting with friends on the other side of the world. If they want, they can go on all night or all weekend, or throughout all public holidays. That is a radical change in our use of time. It is a 24-hour world, with 24-hour trading, communication and information available, globally, at the click of a mouse.
I welcome that. As a mother with children scattered all over the world, whose working hours are unsociable, to say the least, that change is a real boon--especially at this time of year, when, with alarming regularity, I remember that there are only 25 shopping days until Christmas, that I have bought only two presents and that I do not know to whom to give them. Christmas is hard on the feet and on the wallet; on-line shopping does nothing for the second, but does wonders for the first.
It is estimated that the British people--including my hon. Friend the Minister for Competitiveness--will spend £14.2 billion on Christmas this year. As 13 million of us now have access to the internet, it is fair to assume that a sizeable amount of that money will be spent on-line. With 10,900 users coming on-line every day in Britain, that amount can only rise. In a year, the 179 million people who use the internet worldwide will rise to 250 million. Much of that growth will be in Europe, where it is predicted that one in three households will be on-line by 2004. Let us hope that much of that growth will take place in Britain. At present, we are second to Germany in the league table. By 2003, I want Britain to have the largest number of internet users in Europe.
Predictions for the growth of internet usage suggest slow but steady growth. Predictions for the growth of e-commerce suggest a sudden dramatic rise. In February this year, the market for e-commerce was estimated to be worth £12 billion; by 2004, it is predicted that it will reach £1 trillion. With figures like those, British businesses have no alternative but to go on-line. Many of them are on-line--especially retailers. That move may revive the fortunes of our high streets, where the reduction in the pressure for space resulting from the bigger supermarkets moving out may allow smaller niche stores to take advantage of the trend towards leisure shopping for unusual, individual items. I welcome that.
Most of the supermarkets are already on-line. Even the venerable Marks and Spencer went on-line at the weekend, although, admittedly, only to 1,000 select customers in Beaconsfield. I am not sure why Beaconsfield was chosen for the pilot scheme. Perhaps it has something to do with the hon. Member for Beaconsfield (Mr. Grieve), or perhaps it has something to do with the fact that my right hon. Friend the Prime Minister piloted his political career in that constituency, so perhaps it is a good area for pilots.
Banking on-line is well under way. Young people, in particular, prefer on-line accounts. As someone who, 30 years ago, worked in the hallowed marble halls of banks, I know how intimidating they are. On-line accounts are much more accessible, flexible and user-friendly; they are also far cheaper. However, the culture of call centres obviously needs a shake-up.
On-line share dealing is relatively new, but it is already enormously popular and it helps small investors to take on the mammoth firms. The launch of cut-price brokers has slashed the cost of buying and selling shares. Not surprisingly, the number of web-based share deals has more than tripled during the past few months. Small investors are making about 50,000 internet share deals a month, compared with fewer than 10,000 in January 1999. In the United States, where web-based share dealing began as recently as two years ago, a quarter of all trading is now done on-line, and 5 million people buy and sell electronically every day. Thanks to on-line information, small investors are coming into their own.
One of the newest developments on-line is the giving of donations, especially to the third world. I welcome the part that the Grameen bank--one of the leading groups in micro-financing in the third world--has played in bringing the internet to places such as India and Bangladesh. A subsidiary of the Grameen bank is now the largest internet provider in Bangladesh.
There is also much talk of third-world countries using the internet to make direct contact with firms in the first and second worlds, to deal directly with them, cut out the middle people and get a fair deal for their goods. That, like the other lightning-quick changes associated with the internet, poses problems for individuals, trading blocs and, in particular, Governments--problems that require careful and considered responses if they are not to kill the very thing that they are trying to foster.
Therefore, I am glad that the Bill, although a long time in coming, has been out to consultation twice before coming to the House. I am also glad that the Government took seriously the comments of those consulted, and amended the Bill in parts. We should be proud of the result. It addresses the concerns of consumers and producers alike, without overburdening them with regulation--a difficult balance to achieve--and despite the language, on which I am in complete agreement with the hon. Member for Rutland and Melton (Mr. Duncan), I thank those who drafted it.
On-line shoppers, bankers and share dealers throughout the world want security and confidentiality in their dealings on the net. Without that, we shall not get the trust necessary to develop the potential of the new technology. That is illustrated by a headline in this weekend's edition of the Sunday Express--
The Bill addresses some of that anxiety, especially with the introduction of electronic signatures, which are vital for the building of that trust. Part I, which provides for a list of the providers of electronic signatures, is also vital. We need the information, we need to know who the best providers are and we need the voluntary kitemark to which providers are being asked to subscribe.
I welcome all the provisions of the Bill, and I especially welcome the help that it will give my region. The eastern region, although one of the most developed areas, still lags behind London in its use of e-mail. Eighty-one per cent. of firms in London use e-mail, as opposed to 57 per cent. in the eastern region. That shows that we have a problem with take-up, because in the eastern region we have as many computers with modems as people have in London, but there is 23 per cent. under-usage of those PCs.
Mr. Cotter:
Would the hon. Lady elaborate? Does she feel that that under-usage results from the fact that people are not well enough informed or from the costs of transmission?
"We're afraid the 'E' stands for easily cheated"
says Simon Hinde, commenting on the software malfunction that caused a security breach in a major bank last week and allowed people to view other people's shares, causing a great deal of anxiety.
| Next Section
| Index | Home Page |