Computer laws updated

13:00 2nd October 2008

Updates to the Computer Misuse Act came into force in England and Wales today (October 2nd), increasing the penalties for hacking.

The three main changes were originally included in the Police and Justice Act 2006, which raised the penalty for unauthorised access to a computer from five to ten years in prison, as well as creating a new offence for the distribution of hacking tools.

The legislation changes also clarified that launching denial of service attacks, which makes a computer unavailable to its intended user, is a criminal offence.

However, legal experts were sceptical about whether increased sentences would have a positive impact.

Charlotte Walker-Osborn, partner at law firm Eversheds, told computing.co.uk: "It's all very well increasing prison time but the prisons are full and people don't [serve] much time.

"The law takes a while to catch up and the practice of it is key. It is not going to put strong offenders off."

Last week, the General Teaching Council admitted that it had lost the personal records of over 10,000 teachers.

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