U.S. Senate Ratifies Cybercrime Treaty

espo812 writes "A story from Washingtonpost.com says, 'The Senate has ratified a treaty under which the United States will join more than 40 other countries, mainly from Europe, in fighting crimes committed via the Internet.' Ars Technica says it's the 'World's Worst Internet Law.'" From the Ars story: "According to the EFF, 'The treaty requires that the U.S. government help enforce other countries' 'cybercrime' laws--even if the act being prosecuted is not illegal in the United States. That means that countries that have laws limiting free speech on the Net could oblige the F.B.I. to uncover the identities of anonymous U.S. critics, or monitor their communications on behalf of foreign governments. American ISPs would be obliged to obey other jurisdictions' requests to log their users' behavior without due process, or compensation.;"

Clearly a Constitutional Issue

[vodkamattvt]

An international treaty is considered law here, but that does not mean it is immune from constitutional questions. This treaty must be balanced with the bill of rights, so there is obviously lots of litigation in the future if it is actually enforced ...

It's like Wikipedia...

[RyanFenton]

Sounds like this law is somewhat like Wikipedia, just without the editors or limited content control. Any nation can add their own contributions to things that people should be punished for, and have it be law everywhere.

Can treaties be considered unconstitutional? It seems to me that the whole point of the constitution was to limit what laws could be made, with anything not permitted prohibited in the light of the inherent rights of mankind. This unlimited law-by-treaty seems rather destructive to the whole point of the constitution.

Ryan Fenton

The US aren't the ones that "export" laws.

[AlphaWolf_HK]

A lot of people out there like to accuse the US of forcing other countries into enacting laws that are draconian, such as the DMCA and 90 year copyrights. However, the US is actually adopting these laws, such as the DMCA and the CTEA, as part of the WTO and WIPO treaties. It is actually many countries in Europe that these originate from.

The WIPO and WTO actually call for laws much more strict than what the US has. Those "super DMCA" laws that other countries have are really just falling inline with what these treaties ask for, and the US is not at all to blame for them.

The Nation State....

[ObsessiveMathsFreak]

....is in decline. No this isn't some random rant. The sad fact is, multinational corporations really do wield influence that surpasses that of governments. This law is undoubtedly for their benefit, so that laws across the globe will have to defacto become harmonised to avoid all the legal toothaches this will cause.

Think about it. When companies the size of GE and Microsoft run into hassle with different laws in different jurisdictions, they just lobby for harmonisation. And that's what they've gotten. I expect to shortly have what rights I have on the internet reduced to the abysmal level of those living in the US and UK, and what the hell, Iran. All in aid of the children or rich yuppies or whatever. This is why you need proportional representation.

Re:Not lawful, is it?

[thesandtiger]

Let's make it even more scary...

RandomTotaliarianGovernmentX declares that avowing oneself - publically - to be a homosexual is a crime.

American goes on craigslist and says he wants to hook up for some play. Some girl decides she wants to try her hand with another girl.

Enter the US State Dept. which contacts RTGX and says "Hey, you know how we have those sanctions on you? We'll drop 'em if you agree to insist that we extradite all the publically avowed homosexuals to you..."

Think it's crazy? They cane you for spitting in Singapore...

When you thought it could get no worse...

[R4ZORJ4CK]

This issue hits home with me a great deal as I have been bagged, tagged, and am currently under investigation by the FBI for cybercrime. As such I've become all too familiar with the FBI's methods and cyber-crime infrastructure.

Following 9/11 the US government, as we all know, molded the Patriotic Act and the Homeland Security Act to their needs. These later kick started the Critical Infrastructure Protection Board in to high gear. In 2003 the FBI formed Computer Intrusion Squads or Computer Hacking & Intrusion Prevention Squads. The US government has cleverly nicked these as CHIP or CHIPS units (I would have prefered Eric Estrada knocking on my door!). This spread like wild-fire and prompted the FBI to form CHIPS teams in all major cities. I was investigated and arrested by the CHIPS.

This new treaty/pact now allows the FBI to become likened to an international force much like their cousins the CIA. Allowing the foreign governments with their policies to infiltrate our country is a small price to pay for extending the reach and power of the FBI and the US government in general. Ofcourse this is at the expense of not only our rights as Americans but the common person on a global scale. Hmmmm.... can anyone say 'world domination'?

Certainly all the government in all the world cannot monitor all the data in all the world. However, many people will suffer needlessly for such petty crimes as reading email without permission along with the dangerous hardcore hackers. It's almost like spending 5 years for smoking marijuana (I don't smoke).

I am certainly disgusted and our government continues to leave a bad taste in my mouth.