Canberra moves into global cyber-law net

Mr Seger said Australia was keen to restart negotiations on joining the global treaty.

"They got into contact with us again about four or five weeks ago," he said yesterday. "I don`t want to go into the politics, but this Government is more interested in becoming involved."

The Convention on Cybercrime provides a standard framework of legislation, law enforcement procedures and judicial measures that apply to all criminal offences involving a computer system, providing a platform for effective co-operation among signatories.

"If as many countries as possible have legislation criminalising the conduct specified in the convention, you can be sure that what is a crime in one country is also a crime in the other, and that allows you to co-operate," he said. "The procedural measures are quite detailed in this treaty, so that makes it more difficult for countries to ratify, as it takes time to bring all those measures through their parliaments.

"But once they`re in place, the uniform procedures will help you solve the main problem of investigating cybercrime, and that is time."

The treaty includes measures related on expedited preservation, which allow police officers or prosecutors to immediately order data holders, such as internet service providers, to preserve relevant information before obtaining a warrant.

The treaty addresses offences against the integrity of computer systems, including illegal access, interception and interference with data, and misuse of devices; forgery and fraud; content-related crimes, such as child pornography; and copyright and intellectual property infringements.

There are also sanctions against attempted breaches, aiding and abetting, and provisions for corporate liability.

Mr Seger said the treaty could be broadly applied. A case of murder, of course, was not a cybercrime, but the rules could be used to preserve relevant evidence on a computer - emails or digital images, for example.

The convention was adopted by the Council of Europe in 2001 to assist countries to put legislation in place specifying criminal offences for cybercrimes, and to facilitate the increasing number of cross-border investigations.

In 2004, offences against the Protocol on Xenophobia and Racism committed through computer systems were linked to the convention.

Mr Seger said Australia was well-positioned to become a party to the convention, as it already had most of the necessary legislation in place, meeting about 30 articles out of the required 35.

"I think we`re seeing a trend towards seeking accession to the convention, but the details are yet to be discussed," he said.

Karen Dearne is attending AusCERT 2008 on the Gold Coast as a guest of AusCERT.