Fight against fraud gets teeth

silicon.com's Fighting Fraud campaign has scored another success with the unveiling of the Internet Integrity movement, an industry group aimed at combating bad practice on the web, backed by the police.

The new forum was formed in response to interest generated by silicon.com's Fighting Fraud campaign, begun in May 2001.

First suggested at a meeting between members of the British Web Design and Marketing Association (BWDMA) and the National Hi-Tech Crime Unit (NHTCU) in November, the Internet Integrity movement has quickly gathered pace to the point where it unveiled its website today.

Patrick White, chair of the BWDMA and a major driver behind the movement, said: "We are responding to a widespread industry demand, unearthed by silicon.com's Fighting Fraud campaign, for codes of best practice to make the web safer for business, before government puts a legislative straightjacket over it."

He said the new movement has three primary aims - to clarify best practice in areas from copyright to fraud prevention, to lay down codes of conduct, and to campaign against bad practice.

He called on members of the internet community to get involved.

"We have provided a vehicle to deal with these problems, it's now up to industry to climb in and start driving it," he said.

It has already received the backing of figures in industry and the public sector. Lord St John of Bletso, president of sales for web hosting firm Globix, said in a statement he welcomed the evolution of such industry collaboration.

The Patent Office also welcomed the move.

The first act of the initiative has been to publish a code of best practice on dealing with copyright abuse on the web - one of the most common forms of malpractice.

The new initiative can be found at http://www.internetintegrity.co.uk.