UK proposes up to 14 years in prison for undersea cable damage
Original title: UK proposes 14-year jail terms for subsea cable saboteurs
A DCMS White Paper would also impose unlimited fines, new cable-operator duties and national-security direction powers.
The UK government published a Department for Digital, Culture, Media and Sport White Paper that would modernize laws protecting undersea cables and pipelines. Intentional damage to energy or telecoms infrastructure could draw up to 14 years in prison; reckless and negligent damage would also be covered. Ship owners could face unlimited fines, cable companies would take on new security and resilience duties, and ministers could direct providers when national security is at risk. A separate regime would cover fibre-optic sensing on subsea cables. A 12-week consultation is open.
Unconfirmed: The measures are proposals under consultation, not enacted law.
- The government says cables carry about 99% of the UK’s international data.
- Undersea pipelines deliver 74% of UK gas, officials say.
- In April the Armed Forces exposed a covert Russian submarine operation near UK waters.
- Officials say most cable faults are accidents, environment or technical failure.
- Sensing data could be a national-security risk if it leaked.
- Organizations
- Department for DigitalCultureMedia and Sport
- Countries
- United KingdomRussia
From the original article
2 min read at helpnetsecurity.com
Damaging a cable on the seabed off the UK coast could soon cost someone 14 years of their life behind bars, under plans the British government published this week. The proposal comes from a White Paper by the Department for Digital, Culture, Media and Sport that would update laws protecting undersea cables and pipelines, some of which date back 140 years.
By Sinisa Markovic · helpnetsecurity.com
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