50 modification or impairment of data to commit a serious offence; unauthorised modification of data to cause impairment; unauthorised impairment of electronic communication; possession of data with intent to commit a computer offence (similar to the idea of possessing burglary tools); supplying data with intent to commit a computer offence; unauthorised access to restricted data; and unauthorised impairment of data held in a computer disk, credit card, etc. 7.3.9 An important issue when reviewing legislation to consider whether all the tools are in place to deal with an emerging electronic environment is “inappropriate content.” While there may be debate about what exactly constitutes “inappropriate” content on the Internet, there is general agreement that such content exists. The concept is also not new, as a long history of censorship and restrictions to literary texts shows. The European Union, however, has published examples of illegal or harmful content that may affect the following interests: • Matters dealing with national security (e.g., instructions on bombmaking, illegal drug production); • Protection of minors (e.g., abusive forms of marketing, violence, pornography); • Protection of human dignity (e.g.,incitement to racial hatred or other discrimination); • Economic security (e.g., fraud, instructions on identity theft); • Information security (e.g., malicious hacking); �� Protection of privacy (e.g., unauthorised communication of personal data; electronic harassment); • Protection of reputation (e.g., libel, unauthorised comparative advertising); • Intellectual property (e.g., unauthorised distribution of copyrighted works, software or music).49 7.3.10 It should be noted that harmful content may not necessarily be illegal nor may it be harmful in all circumstances. The protection of minors, for example, is an important concern in dealing with harmful content and a similar concern may apply to other media—movies, computer games, books, photographs, or even highly persuasive advertising. In some cases, there are also strong competing values of intellectual freedom and fears of censorship to consider in creating a regulatory regime. 7.3.11 One aspect of control of “inappropriate” content will no doubt be the application of the Penal Code or other regulatory legislation, such as the 49 European Union, Communication from the Commission, Illegal and harmful content on the Internet, November 16, 1996; http://www2.echo.lu/legal/en/internet/content/communic.htm

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