US Senate Foreign Relations Committee Chairman Dick Lugar said
the move will enhance America's ability to join with other
countries in fighting computer crime internationally.
"The United States was a leading participant in the negotiation
of the Convention and expects it to have a significant law
enforcement impact, particularly in terms of our ability to obtain
assistance from other countries in the investigation and
prosecution of trans-border computer-related crimes," he said. "In
particular, it will enhance our ability to cooperate with foreign
governments in fighting terrorism, computer hacking, money
laundering, and child pornography, among other crimes."
The Convention, which also deals with copyright infringement,
lists a number of substantive crimes that parties agree to prohibit
under their domestic law, requires parties to adopt improved
procedures for investigating computer crimes and provides for
international cooperation in the investigation of such crimes.
American law is already in compliance with the Convention, so no
implementing legislation is required, making ratification a largely
symbolic gesture.
The Convention was signed in November 2001 and came into force
in July 2004. The UK has signed the Convention but has yet to
formally ratify it. While ratification requires implementation of
the Convention's principles into national laws, most of them are
already in the UK's laws.
An Additional Protocol against racism and xenophobic material on
the internet is not likely to be signed by the US because it is
inconsistent with the country's Constitutional right to free
speech. Canada became the 28th state and the first non-European
country to sign the Additional Protocol last July.
