Australia signs on line
to beat online crime

Australia has signed on to a new international cybercrime treaty, joining 38 other nations adopting the world’s first international treaty on crimes committed via the Internet.
   Attorney-General Mark Dreyfus said Australia becoming a party to the Council of Europe Convention on Cybercrime would help combat criminal offences relating to forgery, fraud, child pornography, and infringement of copyright and intellectual property.
   “The internet makes it easy for criminals to operate from abroad, especially from those countries where regulations and enforcement arrangements are weaker,” Mr Dreyfus said.
World-first treaty now in place

   “These powers will allow Australian law enforcement agencies to rapidly obtain data about communications relevant to cybercrimes from partner agencies around the world.”
   He said the Convention would also ensure vital evidence was not lost before a mutual assistance request could be completed.
   “Becoming party to the Convention ensures Australian legislation is consistent with international best practice,” he said.
   “It enables domestic agencies to access and share information to facilitate international investigations and help countries in the region build capacity to address cybercrime.”
   Mr Dreyfus said with the Convention now in effect, Australia’s investigative agencies were able to use new powers contained in the Cybercrime Legislation Amendment Act 2012to work with cybercrime investigators around the globe.
   He said the Act amended certain Commonwealth cybercrime offences and enabled domestic agencies to access and share information relating to international investigations.
   He said it also created new privacy protections, safeguards and reporting requirements for the exercise of new and existing powers.
   “The privacy protections in the Act maintain robust protections for Australians,” Mr Dreyfus said.
   “A warrant is always required to access the content of a communication whether the information is in Australia, or accessed from overseas under the Cybercrime Convention.
   “The Cybercrime Act and the Cybercrime Convention do not impact in any way on the need to have a warrant to access content from a telephone call, SMS or e-mail,” he said.
Edition 352, 12 March 2013
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