Criminal Law Reform Now Network: Follow-on Impact (Computer Misuse Act)

刑法改革现在网络（CLRNN）于2017年启动，以促进学者和其他法律的专家之间的合作，讨论，起草和传播刑法改革的全面建议。我们的研究联系人包括公众和主流媒体以及法律的和行业专业人士，警察，政策制定者和政治家。我们立即将滥用计算机和私人起诉确定为改革的优先领域，事实上，四年后，这两个项目在政府内部的议程上都很重要。CLRNN得到了AHRC网络赠款的资助。2020年1月22日，我们在威斯敏斯特推出了我们的第一个项目的成果，即1990年计算机滥用法案改革。报告提出了若干改革建议，包括主要立法中的核心罪行/辩护、皇家检察院的指导、判刑准则，并强调了民事处罚的可能性。目前的后续资金投标集中在主要立法改革的可能性，1990年计算机滥用法（CMA）。自内政大臣于2021年5月11日宣布应修订及修订《电脑入侵罪条例》以来，这项工作已变得更为迫切。现行的“黑客入侵”罪行最初是在《电脑入侵罪条例》中草拟，以反映一种过时的观点，即未经授权进入他人电脑总是有害的。但网站所有者可能会被认为可能拒绝访问，即使他们的网站存在漏洞，可能使他们能够被黑客积极利用。今天的网络安全取决于这样一种理解，即网站所有者不应该在允许漏洞持续存在方面拥有绝对的发言权;事实上，一些被入侵的网站将由网络犯罪分子运行，他们没有理由授权任何测试。警察和国家犯罪局也无法科普保持互联网安全免受网络威胁的工作量。因此，授权网络安全专家进行测试，以关闭漏洞并检测威胁来源，是最好的方法。但《资本市场法》没有这样的框架，也没有任何辩护理由让负责任的专家为公众利益行事。在起草报告的过程中，我们与网络安全代表密切合作，了解现行法律对他们所在行业工作的寒蝉效应（例如，要么限制他们可以提供的服务;要么因可能的犯罪行为而面临起诉）。在报告中，我们建议设立一项新的公众利益免责辩护。政府现时对改革刑事检控制度的关注范围更广，包括新的判刑制度，但我们在报告书中亦已预计到多项重要事项;倘若日后有立法改革，刑罚会更严厉，我们认为刑事检控署会相应修订其检控政策，因此，我们在报告书内就刑事检控署政策所作的工作，可能需要进一步宣传和解释。NCC集团是我们的项目合作伙伴在这个后续的投标，作为一个行业为基础的倡导者CMA改革（网络行动）。到目前为止，他们的网络行动似乎对政府产生了最大的影响，他们承认我们在这个过程中的贡献。但他们的努力需要法律的投入，包括在会议上。因此，我们寻求后续资金，以继续我们的网络协调人的工作，以协调会议和研究简报，以及将于2021年底在剑桥大学举办的影响活动，以重新吸引我们的主要政治利益相关者，并重新强调改革的法律的和学术案例。明年看来可能是改革的关键一年，我们希望我们迄今的工作产生最大的影响。

The Criminal Law Reform Now Network (CLRNN) was launched in 2017 in order to facilitate collaboration between academics and other legal experts to discuss, draft and disseminate comprehensible proposals for criminal law reform to the wider community. Our research contacts include members of the public and mainstream media as well as legal and industry professionals, police, policymakers, and politicians. We immediately established computer misuse and private prosecutions as priority areas for reform, and indeed, four years later, both items are high on the agenda within government. CLRNN has been funded by an AHRC Network Grant.On 22 January 2020, we launched at Westminster (and published open-access) the outcome of our first project, Reforming the Computer Misuse Act 1990. The report makes several recommendations for reform, including to the core offences/defences in the primary legislation, to CPS guidance, to sentencing guidelines, and highlighted the potential for civil penalties. The current follow-on funding bid focuses on the possibilities of reform of the primary legislation, the Computer Misuse Act 1990 (CMA). This has become more urgent since the Home Secretary announced on 11 May 2021 that the CMA should be revised and amended.Existing 'hacking' offences were originally drafted in the CMA to reflect an outdated view that unauthorised access to another's computer is always harmful. But site owners may be thought likely to deny access even though there are vulnerabilities in their site which may enable them to be used aggressively by hackers. Cyber security today depends upon an understanding that site owners should not have an absolute say in allowing vulnerabilities to persist; indeed some compromised sites will be run by cyber criminals who have no reason to authorise any testing. Nor can the police and National Crime Agency cope with the workload in keeping the internet safe from cyber threats. So, licensing cyber security experts to conduct tests, both to close down vulnerabilities and to detect sources of threats, is the best way forward. But there is no such framework in the CMA and no defence at all for responsible experts to act in the public interest. During the drafting of our report, we worked closely with cyber security representatives to understand the chilling effect that the current law has on work in their industry (e.g, either limiting the services they can provide; or risking prosecution for arguably criminal acts). In our Report, we propose the creation of a new public interest defence. The government's present interest in reforming the CMA goes wider, including a new sentencing regime, but we have anticipated many of the salient issues here in our Report too; and should legislative reform be coming, with harsher sentences, we think that the CPS will wish to revise their own prosecutions policies accordingly, and so our work on CPS policy within the Report may also need to be further disseminated and explained. The NCC Group are our project partners in this follow-on bid, as an industry based advocate for CMA Reform (Cyber-Up Campaign). Their Cyber-Up Campaign appears to have had the most effect on government so far, and they have acknowledged our contributions in the process. But their efforts require legal input, including at meetings. We therefore seek follow-on funding for the continued work of our network facilitator to coordinate meetings and research briefings, as well as for an impact event to be hosted at the University of Cambridge at the end of 2021 to re-engage our primary political stakeholders and re-emphasise the legal and academic case for reform. The next year looks likely to be critical for reform and we are keen that our work to date should have maximum impact.