FC: G8 officials meet in Paris this week to discuss computer crime

[William Knowles <wk () C4I ORG>]

---------- Forwarded message ----------
Date: Mon, 15 May 2000 01:03:09 -0400
From: Declan McCullagh <declan () well com>
To: politech () vorlon mit edu
Subject: FC: G8 officials meet in Paris this week to discuss computer crime

Officials from the G8 nations are meeting in Paris this week for a summit
on "cybercrime." It is being organized by the French-Japanese co-presidency:
   http://www.un.int/france/declarations/PP/pponu/000211E.html

The BBC reports the summit is designed to fix "legal loopholes" and discuss
additional criminal laws:
   http://news.bbc.co.uk/low/english/world/europe/newsid_748000/748597.stm

At the last G8 "cybercrime" summit last fall, delegates reportedly said
they wanted to require Internet providers to keep copies of users' email
for three months:
   http://www.politechbot.com/p-00696.html

The U.S. heads the G8 cybercrime working group. Scott Charney, at the time
the Justice Department's representative, said in July 1999 that the G8
group was debating the three-month storage requirement, surveillance, and
encryption:
   http://jya.com/g8-charney.htm

This comes as the U.S. and other countries are trying to advance a global
"cybercrime" treaty using the Council of Europe. The draft treaty would
grant police more powers and in some ways restrict privacy, and Janet Reno
has said the G-8 would be another vehicle for similar agreements:
   http://www.wired.com/news/print/0,1294,36047,00.html

Here's a report on an earlier May 1998 G8 high-level meeting:
   http://www.techserver.com/newsroom/ntn/info/051498/info1_17188_noframes.html


Concidentally, the Washington Post on Sunday ran a front-page article as a
Love Bug followup. It said not enough countries had computer crime laws and
warned of an international "growing population of young hackers who are
only too happy to experiment and take their chances with the law":
   http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/articles/A62575-2000May13.html

G8 justice and interior ministers also met via videoconference in December
1998. The ministers made very brief introductory remarks before reporters
were kicked out of the room:
   http://www.usdoj.gov/ag/speeches/1998/g8videoconference.htm

I'd be interested in seeing details of what's being discussed this week.
Unfortunately, if history is any indication, not much will be released to
the press or the public.

-Declan

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