US to attend UN cybercrime treaty signing in Hanoi despite industry concerns The Record from Recorded Future News

pppLeadershipppCybercrimeppNationstatepp Influence Operations ppTechnologyppCyber DailyppClick Here Podcastpp Free Newsletterpp US State Department officials will be in Hanoi this weekend alongside counterparts from around the world for the signing of the landmark UN cybercrime convention an agency spokesperson confirmed  pp The Convention against Cybercrime was adopted without a vote and by consensus in December after five years of negotiations and significant backlash from the worlds biggest tech companies as well as human rights advocates The treaty will now be opened for signing in Hanoi on Saturday and Sunday and will take force 90 days after being ratified by at least 40 countries pp A spokesperson for the State Department told Recorded Future News the US will attend the proceedings but said it is still reviewing the treaty when asked whether the US will be one of the first signatories pp Marc Knapper the US ambassador to Vietnam and representatives from the US Mission to Vietnam will attend the signing UN Secretary General António Guterres and at least five heads of state will be at the signing a source connected to the negotiations told Recorded Future News  pp The convention lays out a new framework for how law enforcement agencies in different countries coordinate on cybercrime investigations and is being touted by the UN as a way to reduce the number of safe havens for cybercriminals and to help developing nations better protect their citizens from digital crimes pp A source close to the negotiations said about 30 to 36 countries are likely to sign the treaty in Hanoi with several others indicating they may sign it later Multiple countries are conducting political and legal reviews of the treaty so that it can be ratified domestically after being signed  pp Dozens of organizations including Human Rights Watch and Access Now signed a letter on Friday condemning the treaty writing that it obligates states to establish broad electronic surveillance powers to investigate and cooperate on a wide range of crimes including offenses that dont involve information and communication systems  pp It also creates legal regimes to monitor store and allow crossborder sharing of information without specific data protections pp The signing ceremony in Hanoi is taking place against the backdrop of an intensified crackdown by the Vietnamese government on dissent to punish people simply for raising concerns or complaints about government policies or local officials including online Human Rights Watch noted pp All delegations should use their voices in Hanoi to speak out about digital repression by the Vietnamese government They should also name other governments that routinely engage in digital repression including those that have been driving forces behind the convention pp Access Nows Raman Jit Singh Chima told Recorded Future News that at the outset the organization was involved in the negotiation process but its view now is that member states have chosen to settle on a deeply flawed treaty which insufficiently protects human rights and risks undermining cybersecurity rather than concede on having no treaty  pp States are now at a crucial juncture Those proceeding to sign the convention must clearly articulate how they will only implement it in a human rights respecting way and push back on states who will seek to justify cyber authoritarianism at home and transnational repression across borders under the garb of the convention he said  pp Any countries ratifying the treaty risk actively validating cyber authoritarianism and facilitating the global erosion of digital freedoms choosing procedural consensus over substantive human rights protection  pp We urge states to reject this path he added  pp This week the UN published a lengthy defense of the convention arguing that despite global use of the internet there had until now been no globally negotiated and adopted convention text on cybercrime pp But under the new Cybercrime Convention responses to cybercrime will be quicker better coordinated and more effective making both our digital and physical worlds safer the UN argued pp The Cybercrime Convention governs the access and exchange of this electronic data to facilitate investigation and prosecution States Parties will also have access to a 247 network to help facilitate urgently needed cooperation pp Governments can also use the 247 network to request cooperation on investigations and prosecutions extraditions and the seizure of criminal proceeds pp The American delegation initially opposed the treaty when it was introduced by Russia in 2019 and dozens of countries expressed concerns that it would be used to justify human rights violations extraterritorial surveillance the harassment of tech company employees and the abuse of peoples privacy  pp Human rights activists cybersecurity experts and tech giants like Microsoft Meta Oracle Cisco came out against the treaty as well slamming it for endangering cybersecurity researchers and opening them up to potentially thorny data requests that could be issued by governments through the treaty  pp Efforts to add human rights and privacy language into the treaty failed during negotiations last summer Few changes were made to the treaty but the outcry did not stop the Biden administration from pushing forward with the effort even after six Democratic senators sent a letter to the White House expressing alarm over the finalized agreements treatment of privacy rights freedom of expression cybersecurity and artificial intelligence safety pp The convention cleared its final hurdle in November after both the US and UK decided to support the Russiaintroduced convention  pp Biden administration officials made a range of arguments to defend their aboutface on the treaty They pledged to demand accountability of any government that misused the treaty and urged signatories to pass their own domestic laws that would protect human rights and privacy locally  pp The White House later told reporters they felt they had to back the treaty now in order to make changes to it later and shape how it was implemented globally They also said it would likely expand the number of countries that will respond to warrants issued by the US related to cybercrime  pp But the administration continued to have concerns about the treaty even after its signing A State Department spokesperson told Recorded Future News in December that they shared the concerns about the potential for misuse of the convention but believed language in the document about human rights freedom of expression peaceful assembly and religious liberty was enough to assuage worries   ppJonathan Greigppis a Breaking News Reporter at Recorded Future News Jonathan has worked across the globe as a journalist since 2014 Before moving back to New York City he worked for news outlets in South Africa Jordan and Cambodia He previously covered cybersecurity at ZDNet and 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