January 23, 2024, 11:00am-12:30pm
The UN Cybercrime Convention Negotiations: Implications for Human Rights and Internet Openness
In December 2019, the UN General Assembly approved on a 79-60 vote (with 33 abstentions) a resolution calling for the negotiation of a comprehensive international convention on cybercrime. Sponsored by Russia with support from China, Iran and other like-minded countries, the resolution established an Ad Hoc Committee (AHC) charged with elaborating a text. The AHC held six sessions in 2022 and 2023 and will have a concluding session from January 29 to February 9, 2024 in New York. The draft treaty will then be taken up by the UN General Assembly in September.
The treaty’s ardent proponents maintain that existing intergovernmental mechanisms like the 2001 Budapest Convention on Cybercrime are inadequate, and that a stronger and more broadly scoped UN mechanism is needed to tackle the evolving landscape of cybercrime. The treaty’s critics counter that the draft text is far too expansive (and indeed goes beyond cybercrime), criminalizes an arbitrary laundry list of speech and behavior, undermines multiple civil liberties, unduly constrains technology providers and users, and promotes extraterritorial surveillance and mutual law enforcement procedures that could extend the reach of repressive policing. Other governments have taken various positions along the continuum between these polar stances.
Convened a week before the final AHC negotiation, this webinar assembles a panel of leading analysts and participants in the cybercrime treaty debate in order to illuminate the state of play. We will assess the major issues with the draft text, the international coalitions and bargaining dynamics that are shaping the process, and the possible scenarios for a negotiated outcome in the months ahead. As always, the panelists’ conversation will be followed by an open dialogue among all webinar participants.
Introduction of the topic
Eli Noam is Paul Garrett Professor of Public Policy and Business Responsibility, Emeritus, and Director of the Columbia Institute for Tele-Information at Columbia Business School.
Moderator
William J. Drake is Director of International Studies at the Columbia Institute for Tele-Information and an adjunct professor at Columbia Business School.
Panelists
Nick Ashton-Hart is the Senior Director for Digital Economy Policy at APCO Worldwide. He participates in the UN cybercrime convention negotiations as the Head of Delegation of the Cybersecurity Tech Accord, a coalition of over 150 companies. Nick also participates in other international organization processes, including as a member of UK delegations to the International Telecommunication Union. (USA)
Katitza Rodriguez has been the Global Privacy Policy Director of the Electronic Frontiers Foundation since April 2010. In 2018, CNET named her one of the top 20 most influential Latinos in tech. Previously, Katitza directed the international privacy program at the Electronic Privacy Information Center. (USA)
Tatiana Tropina is Assistant Professor in cybersecurity governance at the Institute of Security and Global Affairs, Leiden University. She is a co-chair of the Freedom Online Coalition Advisory Network, and has held various leadership position at ICANN community. Previously, Tatiana was a senior researcher at the Max Planck Institute for Foreign and International Criminal Law. (Netherlands)