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DATE=5/15/2000 TYPE=CORRESPONDENT REPORT TITLE=CYBERCRIME MEETING (L-ONLY) NUMBER=2-262401 BYLINE=MAX RUSTON DATELINE=SAN FRANCISCO CONTENT= VOICED AT: INTRO: The Group of Eight (G-8) industrialized nations have begun a meeting in Paris (Monday) to discuss the growing threat of cybercrime -- primarily crime committed using the Internet and other computer networks. V-O-A's technology correspondent Max Ruston in San Francisco reports on the meeting's efforts to coordinate the fight against computer-related crime. TEXT: The G-8 meeting was called in an effort to speed up and standardize the global fight against cybercrime. Computer security experts say the issue of cybercrime is so new that few countries have developed adequate measures to deal with it. Business leaders, police, judges, diplomats and civil liberty groups attending the G-8 meeting are attempting to prioritize measures that countries can and should take to fight computer crime. They are also working to develop recommendations for new means of international cooperation on that issue. The meeting follows a significant reminder about the threat of computer-related crime - that is the spread earlier this month of the computer virus called the "love bug." David Kennedy is director of research at the U-S-based firm I-C-S-A-dot-net, which specializes in providing security to Internet-connected computer systems. Mr. Kennedy says the most useful step the G-8 could take now is to develop model laws and regulations for other countries to copy. /// KENNEDY ACT /// One thing that we could hope they will do is agree to develop a model language for other countries to use for their own cybercrime statutes. As we have seen in the last two weeks with the "lovebug" issue, not all countries have cybercrime statutes. We found out most countries that are connected to the Internet need some type of cybercrime statute. Some model language would be helpful if that came out of the industrialized countries. /// END ACT /// Mr. Kennedy says the "lovebug" virus, which has been traced to the Philippines, is an example of why such laws are important. He says the Philippines does not have laws against cybercrime, making it difficult to prosecute or extradite the individuals who are believed to have been behind the virus. But the standardization of cybercrime laws is controversial, because of differing views on privacy, and may prove difficult to achieve. The United States is expected to support calls for measures that would give law enforcement authorities the ability to move quickly to carry out searches and seizures. European nations are expected to be more cautious about advocating any measures that could be perceived as threatening to an individual's privacy. The three-day G-8 meeting comes amid parallel efforts by the 41-nation Council of Europe to draft a treaty to standardize cybercrime laws. The council is working with the United States, Japan, Canada and South Africa in that effort. The treaty would require member nations to pass laws against a series of computer crimes, including child pornography, online fraud, and hacking (illegal entry into computer systems). The treaty is expected to be finalized by December and ready for ratification in September 2001. (Signed) NEB/MPR/TVM/gm 15-May-2000 20:18 PM EDT (16-May-2000 0018 UTC) NNNN Source: Voice of America .