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The Pitch For A Cyber-Crime Treaty
by William New
A senior U.S. official on Tuesday presented an international convention on cyber crime to representatives of the nations in the Organization of American States (OAS), suggesting gently that those Latin American nations consider the treaty as a model or even sign it in the future.
Betty-Ellen Shave, senior counsel in the Justice Department's section on computer crime and intellectual property and a U.S. negotiator of the convention, made the presentation. She said the Council of Europe convention on cyber crime, completed in 2001, is necessary because cyber crime often crosses international borders. In fact, some criminals intentionally work through several countries to make it harder to prosecute them.
Shave said the convention -- signed by 35 countries, mostly from the Council of Europe but including four observer countries, the United States, Canada, Japan and South Africa -- is "likely to come into force this year." Five signatories, including three Council of Europe members, must ratify it first. So far, three council members have done so.
The United States has not ratified it yet. Shave said after the presentation that ratification is following "the normal process" but declined to say more.
She also said the convention likely would be opened for more countries to sign, perhaps next year. A Mexican official said his country is interested in acceding to the treaty.
At the OAS meeting, the U.S. delegation floated a proposal for providing technical assistance for building secure computer networks in the Western Hemisphere. The delegation cited an "urgent need" for technical assistance on Internet issues in developing countries of Latin America.
Under the proposal, beginning this fall the United States would work through a committee of OAS experts to provide developing countries training materials, conduct regional workshops and consultations, and provide assistance in the development of policies and laws on network security. Sources of funding are being explored.
The two-page proposal highlighted two would-be elements of a legal framework for protecting computer systems. Countries need substantive computer-crime laws, as well as procedural laws for gathering electronic evidence, the plan said. That would include addressing government access to data for criminal investigations and assurance that the data would not be misused.
The Stumbling Blocks To Cooperation
James Burrell, chief of the FBI cyber division focused on international investigations, said the FBI has found that the "main stumbling block" for investigations with international partners is lack of training and resources. "There is insufficient technical knowledge to address some of these cases," he said.
Burrell said the FBI expects to have a cyber task force in every FBI office by next year. He also said a combination of crimes is becoming more common -- computer intrusions to steal credit-card information, for instance. Another crime trend is the use of new technology, such as disposable cell phones and calling cards.
Herve Hurtado, director general of trafficking and contraband for the Mexican Cybernetic Police, said that in creating a broad-based cyber-crime group in December, his country faced the most resistance from Internet service providers.
"ISPs most objected to sitting around the table to talk with authorities," Hurtado said. But they came around when they saw that the attorney general's office was doing "serious" work, especially against child pornography. "This is how we have broken the ice with service providers," he said.
Elizabeth Banker, associate general counsel at Yahoo, and Hemanshu Nigam, a corporate attorney for MSN/Hotmail, explained to the group how their companies comply with law enforcement requests. Both cited a rapid increase in their companies' legal staff to address the rise in law enforcement obligations. They also noted the legal, technical and budgetary limitations companies have.
Fernando Londoño Martinez, an attorney with the Chilean Justice Ministry, said the retention of data by ISPs could be problematic because several Chilean service providers have no capability to store data. Londono described legislative efforts to address cyber crime in Chile.
In Brazil, the government has suggested to ISPs that they keep records as long as possible, preferably five years, according to an official. Law enforcers have struggled because ISPs operating there typically keep records a few days. The official called for better round-the-clock international law-enforcement cooperation.
Brazil is organizing an international conference on cyber crime targeted for March 2004.
The Brazilian federal police gradually are increasing their number of cyber-crime experts, from the current 40 to 50 by year's end, a senior Brazilian official said. Hundreds of cyber-crime cases are active in the country, he said.
Top Leaders To Attend Telecom Confab
The U.N. International Telecommunication Union (ITU) announced that industry leaders such as Microsoft Chairman Bill Gates, Cisco Systems President and CEO John Chambers, and Hewlett-Packard President Chairman and CEO Carly Fiorina, as well as senior U.S. government officials, have registered to attend ITU Telecom World 2003 from Oct. 12-18 in Geneva.
More than 115,000 participants are expected at the event, which will feature a "telecom village," a business-networking hub set amid restaurants, cafes and open squares. The six-day event will include presentations and debate on critical industry issues.
The technology and telecom ministers from Brazil, Egypt, the European Union, Russia, Singapore and Vietnam also plan to attend.
Building The Case For 'Digital Opportunities'
An initiative to address the fact that most of the world's population does not have equal access to information and communications technologies is collecting case studies on reform efforts.
Part of Building Digital Opportunities, an initiative of OneWorld.net and the Digital Divide Network, is to give decision-makers a clear understanding of how non-governmental networks are using information and communications technologies and what their impact is.
Some refugees already have more digital opportunities, according to the Guardian newspaper. In recognition of World Refugee Week, the paper described ways that the Internet is helping refugees worldwide and the difficulties faced in trying to do so.
For instance, thanks to a U.N. High Commission on Refugees project launched earlier this year, Burundian refugees living in camps in northwestern Tanzania have access to the Internet, with 70 percent of the electricity provided by solar power and a biogas system using cow manure, the Guardian reported. It also described programs involving Palestinian refugee camps and the Tibetan people, who face strict scrutiny by Chinese authorities.
Toward A Cyber Solar System
More than 60 companies and universities have launched a global Internet laboratory, Newscientist.com reported. Known as PlanetLab, it will simulate tens of thousands of Internet users to test new weapons against computer worms and to develop computer programs that are better distributed, operating on many computers at the same time.
PlanetLab currently has 170 Internet-linked computers worldwide, providing a controlled environment for tests. New technologies already have emerged from the laboratory, such as surrogate servers to protect Web servers from overload by automatically intercepting and rerouting requests.
In other news, the U.S. Homeland Security Department has named Cresencio Arcos, vice president and managing director for international public affairs at AT&T, as director of international affairs. Arcos is a 25-year veteran of the State Department.
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