The world has seen the first draft in history of the Convention on Combating Cybercrime. It was adopted at the UN headquarters. In 2017, Russia and China proposed the idea of creating such a document. Negotiations on the project were not easy, and the final document was adopted only now. However, Russia is not entirely satisfied with the result.
Russia, China, and several other countries considered the version proposed for approval to be too narrowly focused. Representatives of the West held the opposite point of view. They believed that the document submitted for discussion, on the contrary, covered too much ground.
Supporters of the Russian approach advocated for naming the project as follows: «Draft UN Convention on Countering the Use of Information and Communication Technologies for Criminal Purposes». The meaning of the document, according to the Russian side, was that it should cover the maximum number of crimes that can be committed using computer technologies.
Western countries advocated for the «Draft UN Convention against Cybercrime». Their approach stated that the document should reflect only the main types of cybercriminal activity.
As a result, the UN adopted an intermediate version. It sounds like this: «Draft UN Convention against Cybercrime. Strengthening international cooperation in the fight against certain crimes committed using information and communication systems, and in the exchange of electronic evidence relating to serious crimes».
Russian representative Dmitry Bukin noted that the title of the document is not correct or accurate. The diplomat added that Russia «will not reveal the consensus on the text of the convention».
The document itself lists ten categories of cybercrimes. Russia insisted on including 23 categories in it. Among those that are currently included in the draft Convention are child pornography, illegal access to information and communication systems, illegal interception of data, forgery, fraud, distribution of intimate images without a person's consent, and much more.
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