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              | Date: 2000-12-06 
 
 Cyber-Crime Convention: Stillstand ist gut-.-. --.- -.-. --.- -.-. --.- -.-. --.- -.-. --.- -.-. --.-
 
 Die Anzeichen mehren sich, dass ein von Anfang an
 schlechtes und schädliches Abkommen sich in eine Schleife
 fügt. Dass diese möglicht near-on endlos werde, daran
 arbeiten Menschen aus mehr als zehn verschiedenen
 Ländern - pereat!
 
 post/scrypt: erinnert sich noch wer an die Zeiten, als es
 verschieden numerierte "Internationalen" gab?
 
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 relayed by David Sobel <sobel@epic.org>  via <gilc-
 plan@gilc.org>
 
 
 Monday December 4 2:21 PM ET
 
 U.S. Embraces European Computer Crime Proposal
 
 By Jim Wolf
 
 WASHINGTON (Reuters) - The United States has endorsed
 the gist of a controversial European drive to tighten
 cybercrime laws over the protests of privacy, civil liberties
 and human rights advocates.
 
 The central provisions of the 41-nation Council of Europe's
 latest draft convention ``are consistent with the existing
 framework of U.S. law and procedure,'' the Justice
 Department said in a Friday posting on its cybercrime Web
 site.
 
 At issue is the first multilateral pact drafted specifically to
 deal with the cross-border nature of much computer-related
 crime.
 
 ...
 Targeted are such things as malicious code to disable Web
 sites as well as computer use for such garden-variety crimes
 like fraud, copyright infringement and distribution of child
 pornography.
 
 The United States will decide whether to join only after the
 drafting is wrapped up, probably later this month, and the
 treaty is opened for signature, perhaps by the end of next
 year, the Justice Department said.
 
 But in a ``Frequently Asked Questions'' text, it played down
 charges that the pact would stretch the long arm of the police
 improperly in cyberspace, trample on individual privacy and
 erode government accountability.
 
 One key issue had to do with data-retention requirements for
 Internet Service Providers, companies that serve as
 electronic gateways to the Web.
 
 Worldwide Groups
 
 In an October 18 statement signed by groups around the
 world, critics said logs based on such archived data had
 been used to track dissidents and persecute minorities.
 
 ``We urge you not to establish this requirement in a modern
 communications network,'' said a 27-group coalition including
 the American Civil Liberties Union, Privacy International and
 the Internet Society.
 
 ``Police agencies and powerful private interests acting
 outside of the democratic means of accountability have
 sought to use a closed process to establish rules that will
 have the effect of binding legislation,'' the groups added.
 
 In its response to these concerns, the Justice Department
 said there was no such retention requirement at issue but a
 data ``preservation'' provision.
 
 ``Preservation is not a new idea; it has been the law in the
 United States for nearly five years,'' the statement said.
 
 Similarly, it discounted critics' fears that the convention
 would mandate surveillance capabilities be built into service
 providers' architecture.
 
 But ``there is no prohibition on states imposing such
 requirements if necessary under their legal systems,'' the
 posting said.
 
 The latest draft by a panel of the Council of Europe, the 24th
 in a marathon that began in the late 1980s with U.S. support,
 was released on Nov. 19. The United States has had a ''real
 voice'' in the drafting process, represented by the
 Departments of State and Justice in close consultation with
 other U.S. agencies, the FAQ said.
 
 David Sobel, general counsel of the Washington-based
 Electronic Privacy Information Center, said the Justice
 Department was in effect acknowledging that the treaty could
 be read ``to require some things that are very controversial,''
 including redesign of system architecture to facilitate
 surveillance.
 
 Washington currently exempts Internet service providers from
 the Communications Assistance for Law Enforcement Act of
 1994. The law, crafted largely at the behest of the Federal
 Bureau of Investigation, requires other U.S.
 telecommunications providers and equipment manufacturers
 to build in a window for court-ordered wiretaps.
 
 Barry Steinhardt, associate director of the American Civil
 Liberties Union, said the pact could force police in the United
 States to conduct searches under rules established by treaty
 ''that don't respect the limits of police powers imposed by the
 U.S. Constitution.''
 
 Sorce: Reuters
 
 
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 edited by
 published on: 2000-12-06
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