News Burst: Government claims Net laws do not need modernising

The Home Office claims the 40-year-old Indecency with Children Act -- made law in 1960 -- is sufficient to deal with paedophiles operating on the Internet. The government is adamant that the prosecution of Patrick Green last week for raping a girl that he met on the Internet has not revealed a problem in UK legislation.

This comes despite the fact that the government's hugely controversial Regulation of Investigatory Powers Act (RIPA) was rushed through parliament with home secretary Jack Straw claiming snooping powers needed to be modernised to deal with the Internet.

The government is currently awaiting a report from the Internet Crime Forum which is investigating the Green case. A Home Office spokesperson told ZDNet Monday that it understands the police to have been happy with the charges that were used to sentence Green.

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