By Heather McLean, 13 November 2001 15:45
NEWS Child pornography and fraud are to be wiped from the internet as the Council of Europe gave the go ahead to the final version of a cyber-crime treaty today. The treaty also lays out ways for law enforcement agencies in different countries to cooperate when pursuing cyber-criminals and terrorists guilty of publishing and accessing illegal materials over the internet. A leading lawyer from Nabarro Nathanson said the treaty is aimed at controlling porn and fraud rings in eastern European states and Russia that do not have stringent rules covering these areas already. Rupert Battcock, of Nabarro Nathanson, said: "I suspect this is aimed at many Eastern European countries. Russia is a member of the Council of Europe and in this case, so is the US and Japan." Countries that agree to sign the treaty will have to implement laws in line with the treaty and work with foreign police departments and law enforcement agencies in tracking down cyber-criminals. But Battcock added: "As far as the UK is concerned there won't be any major areas where the law needs to be changed as we already have the Computer Misuse Act, plus copyright and obscene material abuses are already covered." The final draft of the treaty will be signed by the 43 countries involved in its development - if they so choose - on 23 November in Budapest.
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