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U.S. Agrees To Int'l Cybercrime Treaty
Doug Caverly
Staff Writer
2006-08-04
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The United States Senate approved the Council of Europe's Convention on Cybercrime on Thursday. "This treaty provides important tools in the battles against terrorism, attacks on computer networks and the sexual exploitation of children over the Internet, by strengthening U.S. cooperation with foreign countries in obtaining electronic evidence," according to a statement from Attorney General Alberto Gonzales.
Senator Richard Lugar also supported the treaty, saying it "will enhance our ability to cooperate with foreign governments in fighting terrorism, computer hacking, money laundering and child pornography, among other crimes," as reported by CNET's Declan McCullagh and Anne Broache.
Don't look for major changes in everyday computing; the CNET article pointed out that "because U.S. law already includes much of what the treaty requires, the Senate's consent is in part symbolic." Sections of the treaty have caused some anxiety, however.
Danny O'Brien is the activism coordinator with the Electronic Frontier Foundation in San Francisco. "Our primary concern is that there's no dual criminality within the mutual assistance provisions," he told CNET. "The U.S. is now obliged to investigate and monitor French Internet crimes, say, and France is obliged to obey America's requests to spy on its citizens, for instance - even if those citizens are under no suspicion for crimes on the statute books of their own country."
Some big names still back the treaty. The Business Software Alliance, which includes corporations like Apple, Intel, Micrsoft, and Symantec, "praised the United States Senate for ratifying the Council of Europe Convention on Cybercrime, the first and only international treaty addressing the need for global cooperation in investigating and prosecuting computer network crimes."
If you feel like reading a lot of legalese, you can decide for yourself - the Convention on Cybercrime is posted here.
Tag: Convention on Cybercrime
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About the Author:
Doug is a staff writer for SecurityProNews, InternetFinancialNews, SearchNewz, and WebProNews.
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