[FYI] (Fwd) FC: Planned global Net-treaty hands police more power, limits privacy

["Axel H Horns" <horns@t-online.de>]

------- Forwarded message follows -------
Date sent:      	Wed, 03 May 2000 08:21:20 -0400
To:             	politech@vorlon.mit.edu
From:           	Declan McCullagh <declan@well.com>
Subject:        	FC: Planned global Net-treaty hands police more power, limits
 	privacy
Send reply to:  	declan@well.com


http://www.wired.com/news/politics/0,1283,36047,00.html

    Cyber-treaty Goes Too Far?
    by Declan McCullagh (declan@wired.com)

    3:00 a.m. May. 3, 2000 PDT
    WASHINGTON -- U.S. and European police agencies will receive new
    powers to investigate and prosecute computer crimes, according to
    a preliminary draft of a treaty being circulated among over 40
    nations.

    The Council of Europe's 65KB proposal is designed to aid police in
    investigations of online miscreants in cases where attacks or
    intrusions cross national borders.

    But the details of the "Draft Convention on Cybercrime" worry U.S.
    civil libertarians. They warn that the plan would violate
    longstanding privacy rights and grant the government far too much
    power.

    The proposal, which is expected to be finalized by December 2000
    and appears to be the first computer crime treaty, would:

     * Make it a crime to create, download, or post on a website any
     computer program that is "designed or adapted" primarily to gain
     access to a computer system without permission. Also banned is
     software designed to interfere with the "functioning of a
     computer system" by deleting or altering data.

     * Allow authorities to order someone to reveal his or her
     passphrase for an encryption key. According to a recent survey,
     only Singapore and Malaysia have enacted such a requirement into
     law, and experts say that in the United States it could run afoul
     of constitutional protections against self-incrimination.

     * Internationalize a U.S. law that makes it a crime to possess
     even digital images that "appear" to represent children's
     genitals or children engaged in sexual conduct. Linking to such a
     site also would be a crime.

     * Require websites and Internet providers to collect information
     about their users, a rule that would potentially limit anonymous
     remailers.

    [...]

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