G8 Net Crime Meeting Seeks Global Cooperation

PARIS -- Just two weeks after the ILOVEYOU virus struck with incredible ferocity, representatives of the G8 economic forum are now meeting in Paris to discuss the hot topic of Internet crime, and the U.S. approach to dealing with Internet policy may not be the best for the international community, some already are warning.

Detectives, magistrates and government officials from the G8 group of developed countries, opened their meeting in Paris over the weekend, with ways of tackling the rising tide of Web-based crime at the high end of their agenda.

Along with the topical subject of computer viruses, issues such as telephone and credit card fraud are also up for discussion.

The meeting comes as the Council of Europe, an alliance of 41 countries, has been working steadily with the United States, Canada, Japan and South Africa, on a new global set of standard laws relating to Internet crime.

Under the proposed legislation, all member countries must pass legislation that protect against child pornography on the Web, as well computer hacking problems.

One of the hot items on the three-day events agenda is the whole issue of Internet crime. French Interior Minister Jean-Pierre Chevenement has urged his G8 colleagues to adopt the Internet crime convention being drawn up by the Council of Europe, and make it global.

Chevenement told delegates, however, that they must reject the U.S. global police approach. "Nothing could be more wrong than the U.S. approach," he said, adding that sovereign states can develop the capacity to act, first at home and then in international cooperation. Chevenement said the European approach may be dictated by a greater awareness of the worries about outside interference by states in Europe, notably Russia and the UK.

But, he added, Internet crime is a problem that is becoming more and more acute, and the French believe it must be curbed.

Steve Gold, Newsbytes