CMA Amendments to Crime and Policing Bill withdrawn at Committee Stage, CyberUp mentioned

The CyberUp Campaign was twice referenced in the House of Lords on Wednesday during Committee stage of the Crime and Policing Bill, as peers tabled amendments aimed at introducing a statutory defence into the Computer Misuse Act 1990 (CMA) to protect legitimate cyber security activity.

As is typical at Committee stage, the amendments were debated and then withdrawn, with the issues placed firmly on the record ahead of later stages.

Lord Clement-Jones set out the perverse position created by the current law, and for explicitly referencing CyberUp as “a very vigorous campaign” that has made the case for reform clearly. He warned that, without clearer protections, the CMA can inadvertently criminalise legitimate research and leave the UK’s cyber defenders “forced to act with one hand tied behind their back.”

Lord Holmes of Richmond underscored how far the world has moved on since 1990, and for his generous shout-out to the campaign: “I would also like to put on record my thanks and congratulations to CyberUp.”

Baroness Neville-Jones emphasised that any future update must cover not only vulnerability research, but also threat intelligence—and for pressing the Government to ensure reforms address both.

You can read the transcript of these contributions by clicking on the peer names, or you can view their contributions here.

The Campaign is very grateful to the esteemed peers for their contributions and kind words about the Campaign.