Security News > 2022 > March > UN mulls Russia's pitch for cybercrime treaty

As Russia's invasion of Ukraine rolls through its second week, a United Nations committee has begun hearings on a proposed new cybercrime treaty Russia has been pushing.

"Russia has long turned not only a blind eye to cyber criminals operating in its borders, but has openly and actively support it. It's hard to see how Russia could engage in negotiations for a legally-binding cybercrime treaty in good faith. It's harder still to see how it can negotiate at the United Nations for a treaty based on upholding state sovereignty while simultaneously invading a sovereign nation state."

More countries last year voted against moving forward with Russia's treaty proposal, but enough sided with Russia, setting the stage for the hearings this month.

Among the key criticisms of Russia's proposal is the expansion of definitions of cybercrime in a way that give enable nation-states wide leeway to designate many activities that happen online as a cybercrime, and thus giving them broader basis for cracking down on those activities, which many worry could lead to wide human rights abuses.

"Russia's approach to cyberspace has been one of sovereignty and expanded state control," Joyce Hakmeh, Senior Research Fellow at London-based think tank Chatham House, and Tatiana Tropina assistant professor of cybersecurity governance at the Institute of Security and Global Affairs at Leiden University in the Netherlands and Associate Fellow of The Hague Program for Cyber Norms, wrote in a column last year.

Page, writing for the Lowy Institute think tank, said a weak cybercrime treaty gives Russia and similar countries greater latitude designate anything online as a cybercrime.

News URL

https://go.theregister.com/feed/www.theregister.com/2022/03/07/russia-un-cybercrime-treaty/