Rt Hon Alun Michael MP to deliver keynote speech at the ASIS International European Information Assets Protection Conference

Rt Hon Alun Michael MP will be a keynote speaker at the ASIS International European Information Assets Protection Conference which will be held in London, UK on 25-26 January 2010.   Alun Michael, a former Cabinet Minister, is currently a member of the Committee on Standards in Public Life and of the Justice Select Committee of the House of Commons. He is also Chair of EURIM’s e-Crime Working Group and of the UK Internet Governance Forum. Last June’s Digital Britain Report named him as Chair of the new Tripartite Internet Crime & Security Partnership.

In 2005, in his capacity as Minister of State for the Department of Trade & Industry, Alun led the UK delegation to the World Summit on the Information Society in Tunis.  In 2007 he played a lead role in the UK Parliament’s delegation to the US Congressional Internet Caucus in Washington. He has also been strongly engaged with the United Nations Internet Governance Forum attending their annual meetings in Rio, Hyderabad and Sharm el-Sheikh from 2007-2009 with a cross-party delegation of MPs.

Talking on the European Information Assets Protection Conference, Alun Michael said: “The biggest challenge we face over the next few years is making the internet a place where people can be safe and feel safe. That requires protection of the infrastructure, high quality police and intelligence work, combined with a strategic partnership approach by industry, government and ‘the public’. Our challenge is to make the UK ‘the safest place to do business online’ and to show leadership in the wider world of global internet governance. Partnership and cooperation – often undervalued in the offline world – offer the only way to tackle the challenges of the online world.”

Mike Alexander, Chairman of the ASIS UK Chapter said:  “ On behalf of the ASIS International UK Chapter, I am delighted and welcome the fact that the Rt Hon Alun Michael MP has agreed to be a keynote speaker at the European Information Asset Protection Conference being held in London.”