On 9 March 2019 the House of Lords Select Committee on
Communication published its report – Regulating
in a digital world. The report is ambitious in its scope. The
Committee looks at regulation of the digital world.
The question of whether regulation is needed has gained new
prominence after a series of concerns have hit the headlines:
harmful online content, abusive and threatening behaviour,
cybercrime, misuse of data, and political misinformation and
polarisation.
The role of the law is dealt with relatively briefly.
"11. The internet is not an unregulated 'Wild
West', as it has sometimes been characterised. Criminal and
civil law generally applies to activity on the internet in the same
way as elsewhere. For example, section 1 of the Malicious
Communications Act 1988 prohibits the sending of messages which are
threatening or grossly offensive; it applies whether the message is
through the post or through any form of electronic communication.
There is also
