I understand that the European Union has committed to fighting cybercrime, how will this be done

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Asks ChrisKnight

A. It is not a European Union initiative - and therefore not all EU countries have to abide by its ruling - but instead a Council of Europe convention has created an Anti-Cybercrime Treaty which was signed by 30 participating countries on 23 November 2001 in Budapest, Hungary. The Treaty has been signed after four years of negotiation and it will give international law enforcement officers greater powers to organise against and prosecute computer-assisted and computer-related crimes.

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Q. What countries have signed the treaty

A. The treaty has been signed by 26 European countries, plus the United States, Japan, Canada and South Africa. The European countries that have signed the treaty are: Albania, Armenia, Austria, Belgium, Bulgaria, Croatia, Cyprus, Estonia, Finland, France, Germany, Greece, Hungary, Italy, Macedonia, Moldova, the Netherlands, Norway, Poland, Portugal, Romania, Spain, Sweden, Switzerland, Ukraine and the United Kingdom. Seventeen European countries did not sign the Treaty, these include Ireland, Denmark and Russia.

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Q. Are there any other treaties covering cybercrime in other parts of the world

A. No, this is the first of its kind.

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Q. What crime does the Anti-Cybercrime Treaty cover

A. The Convention deals with offences related to infringements of copyright, computer-related fraud, child pornography and offences connected with network security. It also covers a series of procedural powers such as searches of and interception of material on computer networks.

Before offences can be classified as criminal the offence has to committed deliberately, and the offences covered relate to:

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(a) Offences against confidentiality, integrity and availability of computer data and systems: illegal access, illegal interception, data interference, system interference, misuse of devices.

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(b) Computer related offences: forgery and computer fraud.

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(c) Content-related offences: production, dissemination and possession of child pornography.

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(d) Offences related to infringement of copyright and related rights: the wide-scale distribution of pirated copies of protected works, etc.

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The section of the new Treaty that has caused the most controversy, especially with human rights groups is the new powers it gives the police, these include the preservation of computer-stored data, preservation and rapid disclosure of data relating to traffic, system search and seizure, real-time collection of traffic data, and interception of content data.

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Q. Are there any cybercrimes that the Treaty does not cover

A. Topically, the Treaty does not legislate against using the Internet to incite religious or racial hatred - it was left out of the final Treaty as the US objected to it, stating that its inclusion would contravene its citizens' first amendment rights to free speech. However, the Council of Europe is currently drafting an amendment to the Treaty, which will treat inciting religious or racial hatred as a crime. It is believed that this will become part of the Treaty during 2002.

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Q. But I thought the whole point of the Internet was that it was unlegislated - and not governed by such treaties.

A. That was the theory - but it hasn't actually worked in practice. The Libertarian ideal of free speech, free expression and the free flow of information and ideas for all did seem to have been realised for a while. But the open and unregulated world of the world wide web has had governments worried for years because it has also allowed virus writers, hackers, pornographers, paedophiles etc to have free reign of the Internet - which wasn't going to be tolerated forever. It now seems that the minority of people who have abused the freedom of the Internet, have spoilt it for the rest of the Internet community. The Council of Europe's Director of Legal Affairs, Guy de Vel, stated at the signing of the Treaty: "Contrary to what has been said in certain circles, we are not going to set up a Big Brother, the text covers only specific criminal investigations, and certainly does not lend itself to the setting up of an Orwellian-style general electronic surveillance system."

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Whether those governments that have signed the Treaty are overreacting to scare mongering about criminal use of the Internet is yet to be seen - in the meantime our freedom has certainly been curtailed.

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For further information on the Anti-Cybercrime Treaty contact the Council of Europe

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If you have any other Internet & Technology related questions, please click here

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By Karen Anderson