Government is looking for public input before drafting new laws on e-mail office snooping, online porn and data protection.

Telecommunications Minister Renee Webb said Government would put forward a green paper, or discussion document, to the House covering a host of Internet issues in a draft e-Business plan next year.

She told the House yesterday: "The Green Paper raises a number of fundamental questions which the Government feels need wider debate, both inside and outside of this House, before any specific action is taken.

"It deals with the need for new legislation on both data protection and privacy issues, especially with respect to minors, on consumer protection and on e-mail interception in the office environment.

"It deals with the difficult issue of online pornography and on other objectionable content on websites, something we have witnessed recently in Bermuda.

"It also calls for the issue of electronic signature certificates for citizens and for the setting up of new consultation mechanisms between Government and business on IT and communication issues."

Ms Webb said the proposals would look at IT in education, Government and business and consider whether changes to company law are required to encourage new e-business companies to come to Bermuda.

She said: "This is not some flashy marketing document, the like of which we have seen from other offshore jurisdictions, instead it is a fundamental text on how e-business is, and will, affect all business and citizens in Bermuda."

She said the plan was set to come before the House at the beginning of the year but it was held back to assess the fall-out from the September 11 terrorism attacks in the US. She said: "It came as a fundamental shock to many businesses to realise that their whole being was dependent on computer and e-business systems which had either been destroyed or which they did not have access to.

"This realignment in business thinking has had consequences for Bermuda both in terms of the disaster recovery and business continuity services which businesses here are able to provide and also in how our businesses safeguard their critical data and intellectual property.

"These important changes in the e-business landscape, in addition to the rapidly changing environment for telecommunications companies, are clearly of significant consequence and therefore the Plan needed to reflect on them."