Security News > 2020 > June > Yes, Prime Minister, rewrite the Computer Misuse Act: Brit infosec outfits urge reform
British infosec businesses are celebrating the 30th birthday of the Computer Misuse Act 1990 by writing to Prime Minister Boris Johnson urging reform of the elderly cybercrime law.
The Computer Misuse Act received Royal Assent on 29 June 1990, before "The concept of cyber security and threat intelligence research," the CyberUp campaign group said in its letter [PDF].
The main problem posed by the current CMA is that it criminalises any "Unauthorised access", under section 1 of the act, to a computer.
In January a group of academics published a detailed report echoing calls for the CMA to be reformed, including detailed legal proposals on exactly how to tweak the offences created by the act.
Most recently a Manchester police gunman was jailed under the CMA after abusing his force computer login to find and contact prostitutes whose details had previously been hoovered up by police.