Vol. 478 No. 4
180 Mr. D. Wallace asked the Minister for Justice the steps, if any, she is taking to control or prevent the dissemination or accessing on the Internet of information (details supplied) which is prohibited by the State; and if she will make a statement on the matter. [11313/97]
181 Mr. D. Wallace asked the Minister for Justice the steps, if any, she is taking to ensure the traceability of the supply of prohibited or restricted material on the Internet such as child pornography, incitement to violence, personal abuse, racial hatred or information facilitating or encouraging crime; and if she will make a statement on the matter. [11314/97]
182 Mr. D. Wallace asked the Minister for Justice the steps, including technological or legal remedies, if any, she proposes to take to prevent the use of the Internet by unscrupulous individuals who hack into private accounts, databases and transaction records or who transmit and activate softwear, including viruses, which have malicious effects unknown to the recipient; and if she will make a statement on the matter. [11315/97]
I propose to take Questions Nos. 180, 181 and 182 together.
The Government have been concerned for some time now about the various issues raised by the Deputy in his questions and agreed in early February last to the establishment by my Department of a working group on illegal and harmful use of the Internet. The terms of reference of the group, as approved by the Government, were as follows: to identify the nature and extent of the issues surrounding the illegal and harmful use of the Internet; to prioritise such Internet issues with particular reference to the need to address the issue of child pornography in the short term; to examine and assess the current approaches both domestically and internationally to addressing Internet issues; in relation to those issues which can be domestically addressed, to identify the legal, technical and structural problems which arise and to make specific recommendations for their resolution in terms of sport, medium and long-term proposals as appropriate; in relation to these issues which require resolution in an international context, to make recommendations which will inform policy in this regard.
The group is chaired by an official from my Department and includes representatives from Government Departments, UNICEF, service providers and relevant academic and research areas. The fourth meeting of the group will take place this week. I understand that a number of subgroups have already been formed to study specific aspects of the terms of reference and preparations are being made to obtain the views of a wide range of interested parties on the issues involved.
The Deputy will appreciate that the area being studied by the group is highly complex and has a major international dimension. There are no quick and easy solutions available for the many difficult legal, technical and structural issues to be addressed.
