Cybersecurity Policy Report, U.S. Warily Supports UN Cyber Crime Treaty, Seeks Improvements, (Nov 12, 2024)
Biden administration officials over the weekend expressed tentative support for a global framework to address cyber crime that was advanced yesterday at the United Nations.
But the officials indicated that the U.S. would withdraw its support for the U.N. cyber crime convention unless additional safeguards for individual privacy and civil rights were added to it.
The U.N. General Assembly’s Social, Humanitarian, and Cultural Committee yesterday approved a resolution to send the cyber crime convention to the General Assembly for ratification by member states. But the approval was made by consensus rather than by a vote of committee members, according to a news release.
“This Convention shall be open to all States for signature at United Nations Headquarters in New York until 31 December 2026,” the resolution says. It adds, however, that the multi-stakeholder group that developed the convention would continue to meet and refine the treaty’s language.
The Biden administration decided to remain “in consensus” with the treaty, despite concerns that its provisions could be used by autocratic nations to justify censorship, assaults on individual privacy, and other abuses, senior administration officials told reporters on background during a Sunday news briefing.
“We believe that this U.N. convention has the potential to make some improvements in international law enforcement cooperation to fight cyber crime,” one official said.
“It would make vital cyber crime and electronic evidence available to the United States through increased capacity-building in countries that joined the convention,” another noted. “One of our most effective tools against cyber criminals is to find them when they are traveling outside their home countries and to have them arrested for extradition. This convention would provide us with a greatly expanded net.”
Supporting the treaty through the ratification process also gives the U.S. more influence as it tries to add new guardrails to prevent the treaty from being used to justify human rights abuses, the officials said. If the final product is unacceptable, the U.S. can decline to ratify the treaty, they stressed.
“The U.S. government is highly unlikely to ratify this treaty unless and until we see implementation of [new] human rights controls by countries acceding to the convention,” an official said.
Six Senate Democrats recently urged the administration to “lead the charge” to improve the treaty (CPR, Oct. 29). Official U.S. ratification of the treaty would require approval by two-thirds of the Senate, according to an explanation on the Senate’s website. Absent Senate approval, it would be considered merely an “executive agreement” between the U.S. and foreign governments.
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