- WASHINGTON -- An addition
to an international treaty could permit police to cooperate more closely
on intercepting and decrypting the communications of suspected
terrorists.
-
- The Council of Europe, which includes nearly all European
nations, is meeting this week to prepare additions to a controversial
"cybercrime"
treaty that would cover decoding terrorist messages. The United States,
Canada and Japan are non-voting members of the council.
-
- Peter Csonka, the head of the Council of Europe's
economic
crime division, said when the drafting process for the so-called Second
Protocol is complete, the document will address "how to identify,
how to filter, and how to trace communications between
terrorists."
-
- Details are scarce, and the Council of Europe has
repeatedly
refused to elaborate. Csonka would not confirm or deny whether the Second
Protocol will advance limits on encryption technology, coordinate
code-breaking
efforts among member nations, or increase electronic surveillance performed
against people linked to terrorism.
-
- This week's closed-door meeting, reportedly taking place
at the council's headquarters in Strasbourg, France, includes
representatives
from the U.S. Justice Department, which was one of the most enthusiastic
backers of the original treaty.
-
- Privacy groups and civil libertarians have spent nearly
two years criticizing the existing cybercrime treaty, which is now awaiting
ratification by the legislatures of member nations. If the council plugs
additional surveillance powers into the treaty, opposition seems certain
to increase substantially.
-
- In December, the Council of Europe's Committee of
Ministers
asked the Steering Committee on Crime Problems to draft the "Second
Protocol to the Convention on Cybercriminality to cover also terrorist
messages and the decoding thereof." That is scheduled to happen after
an antiterrorism working group completes its report by April 30,
2002.
-
- This week's meeting is a preliminary one. After the
drafting
process begins in earnest later this spring, the steering committee will
prepare a detailed proposal in June and send it back to the Council of
Ministers by the end of September, according to the Csonka.
-
- The still-secret Second Protocol will be, as the name
implies, the second set of additions to the underlying treaty. Currently
the Council of Europe is busy working on the First Protocol, which
criminalizes
"hate speech" and racist remarks and likely will run afoul of
the First Amendment to the U.S. Constitution.
-
- Some observers predict the U.S. delegates to the Council
of Europe will not sign the First Protocol. But the underlying cybercrime
treaty, without the "hate speech" components, is likely to go
to the U.S. Senate for a vote.
-
- "There is a group of experts working on the First
Protocol. Once this committee produces the First Protocol in June, then
the steering committee will consider giving terms of reference for a new
committee," Csonka said. "The second group of experts operate
on terms of reference that will be drafted by the European Steering
Committee
on Crime Problems."
-
- Bryan Sierra, a spokesman for the U.S. Justice
Department,
confirmed that his agency's computer crime section sent representatives
to this week's meeting on the Second Protocol but steadfastly refused to
say what they were doing.
-
- "We're not at liberty to discuss our position or
even what's going on," Sierra said. "We would prefer to talk
about these matters with the people we're meeting with instead of with
reporters."
-
- The French activist group Imaginons un Réseau
Internet Solidaire obtained a list of participants from a December 2001
meeting relating to the "hate speech" protocol. The three U.S.
representatives are: Jason Gull, a trial attorney at the Justice
Department;
Kenneth Harris, the associate director of the criminal division's Office
of International Affairs; and Richard Visek, an attorney in the State
Department's
law enforcement and intelligence section.
-
- "This shows that the cyber rights community was
justified in its opposition to the cybercrime treaty," David Sobel
of the Electronic Privacy Information Center said of the Second Protocol.
"It is becoming the vehicle for an ever-expanding list of invasive
intergovernmental activities."
-
- Privacy groups have opposed the underlying treaty, which,
according to the Council of Europe, no countries have ratified so far.
Among the objections: Encouraging self-incrimination, no clear limits on
police eavesdropping powers and unwarranted traffic data collection and
storage.
-
- One industry representative who attended a meeting on
the cybercrime treaty at the Justice Department earlier this month said
it was suprising that the government attendees never mentioned the Second
Protocol: "It was interesting because it didn't come up. This was
a clear opportunity to have that discussion."
-
- A foreign affairs officer at the U.S. State Department
said the department is monitoring the process, but hasn't taken a position
on the Second Protocol. The person referred calls to the Justice
Department.
-
- Robert Zarate contributed to this report.
-
- http://www.wired.com
|