Margaret Moran

Margaret Moran, former Labour MP for Luton South.


Issues

Control of Internet Access (Child Pornography) Bill 2006

Out-Law.com report in ISPs to be pressured to block child porn 22 May 2006

ISPs would be required "to declare publicly whether or not they have taken, or are taking, appropriate technical steps to block access to web sites that contain child pornography" under a new law which has had its second reading in the House of Commons. It was introduced as a Private Member's Bill by Margaret Moran, Labour MP for Luton South, last October. She told the House of Commons at the time: "Let us not be under any illusion. The situation surrounding internet child pornography is appalling."

Internet Censorship

EURIM report 17 September 2007

Margaret Moran was interested in the concept that parents who do not use software filters are one of the biggest dangers to children.

E-democracy

Has asked or talked about E-democracy at least 11 times in parliament.

[1] [2] [3] [4] [5] [6] [7] [8] [9] [10] [11]

E-voting

Written answers - Deputy Prime Minister Margaret Moran E-Voting 19 June 2003

To ask the Deputy Prime Minister what plans he has to include e-participation in future e-voting pilots.

National Hi-Tech Crime Unit

Margaret Moran National Written answers Home Department - Hi-Tech Crime Unit 23 May 2006

To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department whether he plans to replace the contact service formerly provided via the National Hi-Tech Crime Unit website.

ID Cards

Member of the Science & Technology Committee, which delivered a report critical of the ID cards programme in August 2006

Open Standards

Oral Answers to Questions — Health Margaret Moran National Programme for Information Technology 16 May 2006

Is the Minister aware that many Labour Members believe that the national programme will be transformatory for the health service, especially due to electronic prescribing and care service records? Will he ensure that IT systems are compatible and, in that context, investigate the Luton and Dunstable hospital and the Royal Free hospital? Electronic records have to be taxied between those two hospitals because of the mismatch of electronic data links. Will he ensure that there is compatibility so that we have a better patient service?

Computer Misuse Act

Written answers - Home Department Margaret Moran Computer Misuse Act 31 January 2006

To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department if he will bring forward proposals to update the Computer Misuse Act 1990 to ensure reasonable penalties for misuse.

Links

News

2008-05-16 - The Register - Number crunching knife crime and online ID verification
Author: John Ozimek
Summary: Margaret Moran, MP for Luton South, introduce the second reading of a Bill to make age and identity verification compulsory for all online retailers. It is, of course, all about knives - and porn and alcohol and anything else that teenagers are allegedly obtaining over the internet that they are not allowed to buy over the counter. But apart from some anecdotal evidence about the ease with which youngsters can buy these items online - often set up by the same media that then runs scare stories about 'knife culture' - real evidence is hard to come by.
2008-01-24 - Out-Law.com - MP calls for law to force online shops to verify age
Summary: A bill has been introduced in Parliament which would force online retailers to check customers' ages before selling goods that cannot be sold to children. The Online Purchasing of Goods and Services (Age Verification) Bill received its first reading in Parliament on Tuesday when it was introduced by Labour MP Margaret Moran as a private member's bill. Moran said "There are most often no checks online, thus enabling children to buy age-restricted goods," she said. "This is at a time when we are all rightly concerned about the increasing availability of knives and alcohol to under-age youngsters." "The Bill would require online retailers and those who facilitate such purchases – for instance, via pre-payment cards – to take positive steps to ensure age compliance. We cannot have a wild west scenario whereby anything is sold to anyone and no one takes responsibility."
2006-06-08 - The Guardian - When did we last see your data?
Author: SA Mathieson
Summary: We trust banks far more than the government to protect our personal data, so plans to share files across departments should ring alarm bells. ... Margaret Moran, the Labour MP who chairs Eurim, a liaison group between parliament and the IT industry, argues that with the ICO's tougher penalties, rigorous training of staff, and internal security measures such as the audit trail, the ability to join up people's data will allow the government to provide a better service. She says that when she led Lewisham council, citizens benefited from data sharing between the local authority and the then Department of Social Security to improve housing benefits. "There are concerns around privacy, but people are more concerned about efficient services," she says.
2006-05-26 - The Register - SOCA saves UK high-tech crime unit - offline
Author: John Lettice
Summary: Concerns that the work of the National Hi-Tech Crime Unit (NHTCU) could be lost in the transfer process to SOCA, the newly formed Serious Organised Crime Agency, are clearly misplaced, if an answer to a Parliamentary question earlier this week is to be believed. ... Asked by Margaret Moran MP "whether he plans to replace the contact service formerly provided via the National Hi-Tech Crime Unit website",
2006-05-22 - Out-Law.com - ISPs to be pressured to block child porn
Summary: ISPs would be required "to declare publicly whether or not they have taken, or are taking, appropriate technical steps to block access to web sites that contain child pornography" under a new law which has had its second reading in the House of Commons. It was introduced as a Private Member's Bill by Margaret Moran, Labour MP for Luton South, last October. She told the House of Commons at the time: "Let us not be under any illusion. The situation surrounding internet child pornography is appalling."
2005-11-09 - BBC - Girls 'put off technology jobs'
Author: Alison Smith
Summary: Most schoolgirls enjoy using computer technology but only a quarter want related jobs, UK research suggests. Present at the debate Margaret Moran MP - Parliamentary Backbench Committee for women
2005-11-01 - The Register - Leters
Author: Lucy Sherriff
Summary: Letters sent to The Register over the call from MP Margaret Moran for ISPs to be forced to disclose their child porn blocking strategies. People where not happy.
2005-10-27 - The Guardian - Yesterday in parliament - Internet child pornography
Summary: Internet service providers were urged to tell the public whether or not they have blocked access to child pornography. Labour's Margaret Moran said availability of technology to deny web users the chance to download such sites meant "the end of child pornography on the net is now in sight" but legislation was needed to compel ISPs to declare what measures they are taking. Her control of internet access (child pornography) bill gained its first reading but stands little chance of becoming law.
2005-10-26 - The Guardian - Bid to block online child porn
Author: David Batty
Summary: A Labour MP is today introducing a bill to compel UK internet service providers (ISPs) to publicly state whether they block their customers from accessing known paedophile websites. Margaret Moran, MP for Luton South, wants ISPs to declare in their annual accounts or on their websites whether or not they bar access to websites that contain images of child abuse.
2005-10-26 - The Register - MP urges ISPs to come clean on child abuse
Author: John Leyden
Summary: An MP is urging ISPs to come clean on whether or not they block access to websites hosting images of child abuse. Margaret Moran, the Labour MP for Luton South, is due to raise the issue in parliament by introducing the Control of Internet Access (Child pornography) Bill, a private member's bill that stands little chance of becoming law.
2005-10-26 - BBC - Internet child porn block calls
Summary: Internet service providers have been urged to publicly declare whether they block the use of websites containing child pornography. Labour MP Margaret Moran says she has support from MPs of all parties for a law compelling such companies to publish their policies.
2005-08-11 - The Register - MP calls for updated laws to fight cyberjihadis
Author: John Leyden
Summary: A Labour MP is calling for updated legislation and greater international co-operation to make it easier for police to track and trace terrorist recruiters, animal rights extremists and other criminals on the net. Margaret Moran MP, chair of all-party Parliament Industry group EURIM, said that the police "urgently" need resources to find extremists who "use the internet to ensnare those who are alienated from society and turn them from sympathisers into enthusiasts and then fanatics".
2005-07-26 - silcon.com - Child porn: ISP regulations set for Commons debate
Author: Ingrid Marson
Summary: A Labour MP has proposed a bill to force ISPs to declare whether they have taken steps to prevent access to paedophilic websites. Margaret Moran, the Labour MP for Luton South, has introduced the bill under the 'Ten Minute Rule', which allows a brief discussion on the issue but is unlikely to lead to an immediate change in the law.
2002-05-10 - BBC Woman's Hour - E-Democracy
Summary: But one Labour MP is worried that this political revolution may leave women behind. Margaret Moran has just written a paper called E Democracy or He Democracy? . She believes that the government should use the internet to consult women, to reconnect with their lives. Martha asks Margaret Moran and journalist Joan Burnie whether e-democracy really is the answer to the huge problem of political alienation?
2002-05-09 - Th Guardian - Switched on
Author: David Walker
Summary: The prevalence of pornography online is one of the main reasons women's involvement with the web and ICT lags far behind men's. Because men write software applications and devise ISPs, they determine the rules that put women off. But this criticism, in a new pamphlet from the Fawcett Society, is matched by strong advocacy of the web as the basis for new social dialogue among women. Margaret Moran, the pamphlet's author, is a backbench Labour MP whose own Luton democracy pages have been praised as an example of what political representatives can do online.
2000-02-13 - BBC On The Record - INTERNET AND POLITICS VT. What impact is the internet going to have on politics and political campaigning.
Summary: MARGARET MORAN: The power of the new technology

is that Prime Ministers, senior ministers, can get their message across to a mass audience quickly and relatively cheaply using the net.

1999-11-25 - The Guardian - Web watch - Political grid
Author: Neil McIntosh
Summary: Luton South MP Margaret Moran reckons her new website could "change the face of British cyber politics for ever." That might not be difficult, given the notoriously unwired nature of the House of Commons. On Monday she unveils her National Grid for Democracy, which will include a comprehensive database of MPs' email and website addresses. There are plans to include information on every elected representative sitting on regional assemblies, county, district and parish councils across the UK. The question is: how many of the MPs will be able to look themselves up on the system?
1999-05-13 - The Guardian - Parliament unplugged
Author: Patrick Barkham
Summary: But most MPs don't seem to want to access the internet - or use it to enhance their own accessibility to their constituents. "The Commons is one of the most unwired places there is," says Labour MP Margaret Moran. "We're still in the era of the quill pen here."