Internet hackers should ‘face jail’
MP calls for tough action after private details of UMP MPs and ministers was published online
INTERNET hackers should face four years in prison for stealing confidential information and abusing the rights of people to privacy in their lives, an MP has demanded.
UMP MP Muriel Marland-Militello, from the Alpes-Maritimes, was reacting after private details of MPs and their staff was published online after - it is claimed - someone hacked into the party intranet at the National Assembly.
Ms Marland-Militello renewed her call for heavier penalties as the way to halt internet hackers. She lodged a proposal in May for a law calling for increased jail terms and the suspension of internet access for two years. It has so far received 70 signatures of support from MPs.
She said the internet was changing too quickly for MPs to react after the event and they had to get a lead by bringing in strong measures to stop hacking.
Vice-president of the UMP group in the assembly Bernard Deflesselles said the data appeared to come from their files. The welcome page of the UMP group's internet site has been taken down as it was feared someone discovered a password to get access.
The files that were published online included home and mobile telephone numbers of ministers, MPs and officials.
Today a group claiming responsibility for the hacking told the website PC Inpact that the information had not come from the UMP group but from the personal accounts of UMP MPs who used a certain internet company.
