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Digital Economy Bill [HL]

An issue which strikes me in relation to these helpful amendments is that responsible retailers who have invested in more robust age-verification systems fear being commercially penalised as their less scrupulous competitors will become magnets for those seeking to bypass the age-restriction laws. I appreciate that this makes it no less illegal for them to sell to minors, but the fact remains that we currently provide neither stick nor carrot for them to invest more heavily. My support for these timely amendments, especially Amendment 255A, is borne partly by the practical desire to clamp down on these irresponsible online retailers, and partly from a wider concern—one that stretches to the nature of communication and interaction online. It is difficult for retailers to know whether the person at the end of the mouse is old enough to buy their goods. That belies the wider fact that the internet can create anonymity and fabricate masks. If we encrypt our identities, for whatever malevolent intent, the people at the other end will suffer. In this case, young people are asking retailers to break the law. As the noble and learned Lord, Lord Mackay of Clashfern, said, they often lie to, or hide the truth from, their parents. We need to face up to the consequences of doing more and more things in our technological age without real interpersonal connectivity. I do not wish to detain your Lordships on this matter this evening, but I raise the issue because this amendment helpfully points to some interesting and also disturbing shifts in the tectonic plates which undergird our common life. In common with other noble Lords who have spoken, I very much hope the Minister will respond in a positive way, at least to the spirit of what has been said in this debate.