The Convention was drawn up by the Council of Europe which has
42 Member States. Representatives of 26 Member States signed the
treaty on its opening day in Budapest. Canada, Japan, South Africa
and the US, countries which also took part in the Convention’s
drafting, also signed up. Other non-member States may also be
invited by the Committee of Ministers to sign the treaty at a later
date.
The following Member States signed the treaty: Albania, Armenia,
Austria, Belgium, Bulgaria, Croatia, Cyprus, Estonia, Finland,
France, Germany, Greece, Hungary, Italy, Moldova, the Netherlands,
Norway, Poland, Portugal, Romania, Spain, Sweden, Switzerland, "the
Former Yugoslav Republic of Macedonia", Ukraine and the United
Kingdom.
The Convention will come into force as soon as five states, at
least three of which must be Council of Europe members, have
ratified it. This requires them to make changes to their national
laws to implement the Convention’s provisions.
The Convention deals in particular with offences related to
infringements of copyright, computer-related fraud, child
pornography and offences connected with network security. It also
covers a series of procedural powers such as searches of and
interception of material on computer networks.
Controversially, the Convention includes powers to preserve
data, to search and seize, to collect traffic data and to intercept
communications. In answer to criticism from privacy advocates, Guy
De Vel, Director General of Legal Affairs at the Council of Europe,
commented, "the text covers only specific criminal investigations,
and certainly does not lend itself to the setting up of an
Orwellian-style general electronic surveillance system".
The Convention’s main aim, according to its wording, is to
pursue "a common criminal policy aimed at the protection of society
against cybercrime […] by adopting appropriate legislation and
fostering international co-operation."
It will have an Additional Protocol making it a criminal offence
to disseminate racist or xenophobic propaganda via computer
networks. The drafting of this Additional Protocol will begin in
December 2001.
