[FYI] (Fwd) FC: Civil lib groups oppose CoE treaty, OECD "cybercrime

["Axel H Horns" <horns@ipjur.com>]

------- Forwarded message follows -------
Date sent:      	Wed, 18 Oct 2000 12:00:21 -0400
To:             	politech@politechbot.com
From:           	Declan McCullagh <declan@well.com>
Subject:        	FC: Civil lib groups oppose CoE treaty, OECD "cybercrime" forum
Send reply to:  	declan@well.com



"Global Web Crime Agency Mooted"
Financial Times (10/18/00) P. 7; Grande, Carlos
Cybercrime and online privacy will top the agenda at the World
E-Commerce Forum, to be held in London today by the Organization
for Economic Co-operation and Development (OECD).
Representatives from world governments and the Internet industry,
including British Telecom and RSA Security, will attend the meeting.
The OECD is urging world governments to fight cybercrime through
greater regulation of the Internet. Risaburo Nezo, head of the OECD's
Science, Technology, and Industry directorate, says the number of
security attacks in the U.S. and Japan are on the rise. "The global
nature of the Internet means that there will have to be harmonized
security standards," says Nezo. International Data predicts that
expenditures on information security services across the globe will
jump from $4.8 billion in 1998 to $16.5 billion in 2004.


See text of groups' letter (discussed below):
http://www.cluebot.com/article.pl?sid=00/10/17/1622228&mode=nested


http://www.wired.com/news/politics/0,1283,39519,00.html

    Police Treaty a Global Invasion?
    by Declan McCullagh (declan@wired.com)

    3:00 p.m. Oct. 17, 2000 PDT
    WASHINGTON -- Civil liberties groups are vexed over a proposed
    treaty that would grant more surveillance powers to U.S. and
    European police agencies, and expand copyright crimes.

    Thirty groups -- from North America, Asia, Africa, Australia and
    Europe -- said this week that the treaty "improperly extends the
    police authority of national governments" and places the privacy
    of Internet users and the freedom of computer programmers at risk.

    In a long letter to Walter Schwimmer, the Council of Europe's
    secretary general, the groups advise the participating governments
    to delay action on the treaty and consult with technical and
    privacy experts instead.

    "It's a direct assault on legal protections and constitutional
    protections that have been established by national governments to
    protect their citizens," says Marc Rotenberg of the Electronic
    Privacy Information Center. "It's both an end run by police
    agencies and a bit of policy laundering by the U.S. Department of
    Justice to get more (surveillance) authority."

    Rotenberg said EPIC and other groups wanted to rally opposition to
    the measure before a summit of participating nations next week in
    Berlin.

    The U.S. has helped craft the Council of Europe's proposal, which
    is expected to be finalized within the next few months, making it
    the first computer crime treaty. The draft treaty is designed to
    aid police in investigations of online miscreants in cases where
    attacks or intrusions cross national borders.

    [...]




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