The world’s 8 main industrialised countries comprise the United
States, Japan, Germany, France, Britain, Italy, Canada and Russia.
They called for faster, more innovative responses to crime, after
considering problems such as the recent Love Bug virus. The final
communique stressed that they wanted to crack down on digital crime
rapidly spreading across the globe, but without stifling the growth
of e-commerce.
A Canadian delegate from the Information Technology Association,
Gaylen Duncan, is reported to have said, “Hacking is a very serious
civil and criminal issue. But no, we have not made plans on how to
tackle it, but it is on the agenda and we’ve all exchanged e-mail
addresses.”
The G8 supported “effective industry-initiated voluntary codes
of conduct and standards” without specifying where or how tech
firms should do this.
A French diplomat said Paris would progress the issue within the
G8, the EU and the Council of Europe, which is presently drafting a
convention on cybercrime. The United States, which is helping draft
the convention, has already expressed reservations on the concept
of a convention. Unlike Europe, the US is alleged to favour
self-regulation and not legislation of the internet.
