Govt. Joins Net Treaty That May Limit Rights in U.S., Overseas

[NVMojo]

Aug. 11 – The US Senate last week ratified a treaty requiring participating countries to share citizens’ personal digital data and aid each others’ criminal investigations, an arrangement privacy advocates say will amount to increasing surveillance of Internet users and the enforcement of foreign laws in the United States.

Privacy groups are particularly concerned that if nations such as China, which cracks down on online political speech, sign the treaty, they could attempt to compel member states to monitor dissident activity, though US government officials emphasize that the treaty would not supersede constitutional protections.

The Council of Europe Convention on Cybercrime treaty forces participating countries to legalize "certain investigative techniques" to enforce Internet laws against hacking or child-pornography sales. The required laws would allow law enforcement to seize stored computer data and intercept data being transmitted between computers.

Since US law already allows these techniques, the treaty will change little about electronic surveillance in the US, according to a report released by Senator Richard Lugar (R–Indiana), who chairs the Committee on Foreign Relations and supports the treaty.

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http://newstandardnews.net/content/index.cfm/items/3523

[Vidar]

1. Trying to internationalize our gestapo.