My Lords, even by the standards of this Bill, this is a pretty diverse group of amendments. I am leading the line with an amendment that does not necessarily fit with much of the rest of
the group, except for Amendment 266, which the noble Baroness, Lady Buscombe, will be speaking to. I look forward to hearing her speak.
This amendment is designed to probe the creation of a new offence of identity theft in Clause 160. As I argued in my evidence to the consultation on digital identity and attributes in 2021, a new offence of identity theft is required. Under the Fraud Act 2006, the Identity Documents Act 2010, the Forgery and Counterfeiting Act 1981, the Computer Misuse Act 1990 and the Data Protection Act 2018 there are currently the offences of fraud using a false identity, document theft, forging an identity, unauthorised computer access and data protection offences respectively, but no specific crime of digital identity theft.
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I was strongly influenced by the experience of the performer Bennett Arron, the award-winning writer and stand-up comedian, who had his digital ID stolen over 20 years ago and, as a result, became penniless and homeless. I think he was the first major victim of identity theft in the UK. Years later, he wrote a comedy show, surprisingly, about his experience. It is a disturbingly true yet funny account of what it is like to have your identity stolen. It was critically acclaimed—I know the Minister will appreciate this—at the Edinburgh festival and led to Bennett being asked to direct a documentary for Channel 4 Television. In the documentary, “How to Steal an Identity”, Bennett proved, through a series of stunts, how easy the crime of ID theft is to carry out. He also managed to steal the identity of the British Home Secretary—I am not sure which one; that needs further investigation. As he says, having something tangible stolen—your phone, a bike or a car—is awful and upsetting. However, they are replaceable, and their loss is unlikely to affect your whole life. Having your identity stolen is different: you will have great difficulty in restoring it, and the consequences can affect you for ever. He went on to describe his experiences.
Interestingly enough, the ICO has published guidance on identity theft. It says:
“Your identity is one of your most valuable assets. If your identity is stolen, you can lose money and may find it difficult to get loans, credit cards or a mortgage. Your name, address and date of birth provide … information”,
and an
“identity thief can use a number of methods to find out your personal information and will then use it to open bank accounts, take out credit cards”,
et cetera, in your name. The guidance goes on to talk about what signs you should look for and what you should do in the event of identity theft. However, effectively, it says that all you can do if some documents are stolen is tell the police; it does not tell you whether the police can do anything about it. All the guidance does is suggest that you report physical documents as having been stolen.
I have asked many questions of the Government, who, in response to the consultation on digital identity, proved stubbornly reluctant to commit to creating a new offence. It is not at all clear why. I am just sorry that the noble Baroness, Lady Morgan, is not here. She chaired the Select Committee and its terrific report Fighting Fraud: Breaking the Chain, which said:
“Identity theft is a fundamental component of fraud and is routinely used by fraudsters to steal money from legitimate individuals and organisations yet it remains out of scope of criminal offences”.
Its recommendation was:
“The Government should consult on the introduction of legislation to create a specific criminal offence of identity theft. Alternatively, the Sentencing Council should consider including identity theft as a serious aggravating factor in cases of fraud”.
In their response, the Government said:
“We agree that identity theft is a vector”—
that is a great word—
“used by fraudsters to commit fraud, but current legislation provides an effective avenue to prosecute those committing identity frauds”.
That is absolutely not the case. I look forward to what the Minister says about that, but I believe that there is a case for including an identity-theft offence both in the Bill and, later, when we come to the Data Protection and Digital Information Bill, where there will be an even stronger case for it to be included.
I will not be able to wind up on this group because I am speaking to this amendment, but I strongly support my noble friend’s Amendments 268AZB and 268AZC. I believe that the Law Commission’s intention was very much to create a high bar for the offence of encouragement of self-harm. It says:
“Our aim is only to criminalise the most serious examples of encouragement of self-harm”.
However, out there, a lot of the support organisations are worried about the broadness of the offence. They are concerned that it risks criminalising peer-support and harm-reduction resources, and that it may also criminalise content posted by people in distress who are sharing their own experiences of self-harm. That is why I support the amendment that my noble friend will speak to. I beg to move.