§ Barbara Follett: To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department how many prosecutions there have been for sending obscene material via fax machines in each of the last five years. [41500]
§ Mr. MichaelUnder section 2 of the Obscene Publications Act 1959, it is a criminal offence to publish or possess for gain an obscene article. A person publishes an article if he distributes, circulates, sells, lets on hire, gives or lends it, or offers it, or electronically transmits it. Material sent via fax machines comes within the scope of the Act.
Data collected centrally about proceedings under section 2 do not specify the type of medium (e.g. book, magazine, Internet, facsimile, etc.) used in the commission of an offence.
§ Barbara FollettTo ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department what statutory provision governs the transmission of obscene and unsolicited faxes. [41498]
§ Mr. MichaelThe principal control on obscene material is the Obscene Publications Act 1959. Under this Act, it is an offence to publish an obscene article, that is, an article which, in the view of the court, tends to `deprave and corrupt' those likely to see, read or hear it. It is the responsibility of the police to decide whether there are sufficient grounds to launch a criminal investigation and that of the Crown Prosecution Service to decide whether to prosecute those alleged to be responsible for the publication.
Under the Telecommunications Act 1984, anyone running a telecommunications system in the United Kingdom is required to do so under licence. These licences contain measures aimed at limiting the nuisance caused by unsolicited telephone and fax calls, by requiring callers to cease this practice on receipt of a written request from the recipient. OFTEL are responsible for enforcing these rules and ultimately the Director General has power to deprive persistent offenders of the right to operate their telephone system.
The Government have also recently published a consultation paper on implementation of the European Union Telecoms Data Protection Directive, which seeks to address the question of additional measures to protect businesses and residential consumers from unwelcome faxes. The Directive will be implemented later this year.