Ministers from the eight major industrialised nations, the G8, have agreed on a plan to fight international computer crime.

The move follows a meeting in Washington of the interior and justice ministers of Britain, Canada, France, Germany, Italy, Japan, Russia and the United States.

The US Attorney-General, Janet Reno, said criminals were no longer restricted by national boundaries and all countries had to act together if they wanted to combat cyber-crime.

"With emerging technologies, no longer will we have to fight 21st century crimes with 19th century tools," she said. "Today is an important day in fighting computer crime, and in laying the groundwork for the next century of crime fighting."

The agreement aims to tackle the following forms of cyber crime:

• paedophilia
• drug-trafficking
• money-laundering
• electronic fraud such as theft of credit card numbers, money-laundering and computerised piracy
• industrial and state espionage

The most important measure to tackle these offences is a commitment to train law enforcement officials in the tools of the cyber trade, and to co-ordinate prosecution efforts so that countries know where to try a cyber criminal.

Ministers also pledged to create a 24-hour-a-day contact service to help national police forces respond quickly and in a concerted manner to fast-moving cyber-criminals.

Other measures in the ten-point action plan include judicial co-operation and agreements on extradition, hastening the progress of mutual agreements, speeding up communication, provision of standards for secure telecommunications and developing forensic standards for retrieving electronic data .

Overcoming legal hurdles

International co-operation to fight cyber-crime faces some major obstacles, not least the differing laws in various countries.

A top US Justice Department official explained: "Once a government is involved, judicial process and formal international requests for assistance can delay the investigative process, sometimes with detrimental results."

Japanese domestic law stipulates that for an individual to be extradited from Japan the action of which he stands accused abroad must also be considered a crime in Japan.

However, the heads of the Japanese delegation - Vice Minister of Justice Mamoru Norisada and National Police Commissioner General Yuko Sekiguchi - have shown "flexibility" on the question of dual criminality.

Ms Reno said the ministers had agreed that where extradition was not possible because of nationality, "the same commitment of time and resources" would be devoted to prosecution at home "that a victim-nation would have devoted."

The British Home Secretary, Jack Straw, drew attention to the need for close co-operation with industry.

"We agreed that we have to have a closer dialogue with Internet service providers ... so that they are aware of the needs of law enforcers," he said.

"There's also a need to recognise that we are all on the same side, because law enforcement agencies represent the lawful customers of Internet service providers."

Brazen new world

Although online crime has yet to take off in a major way, delegates were told about a brazen new world of Net criminals.

Internet use has exploded. Almost 82 million computers worldwide are now connected, according to the Dataquest market research firm, with the total figure expected to reach 268 million in four years.

Net criminals can tap in to the Net anywhere in the world

Encryption techniques are giving drug smugglers the confidence to chat online about their shipments.

When they get their payments, criminals no longer have to launder it through the world's less scrupulous banks. Their computer can do it all for them.

Violent groups are similarly exchanging bomb-making information through the Internet.

The Net even opens up new possibilities for blackmailers. Once inside a person or company's computer, an unparalleled amount of information can be found. In some cases it is bound to be damaging.

Germany shows off its Net laws

The United States, Britain, France, Germany, Italy, Canada, Japan and Russia must first agree what they mean by Internet crime.

The Germans claim to be the first country in the world to have passed Internet legislation.

As a result of a bill passed in August, German sites can be prosecuted if they contain "offensive" material.

This includes not only paedophilia but also neo-nazi propaganda or other content banned from other German media.

The German Minister for Research and Technology, Juergen Ruttgers, said: "What is banned on paper is also banned in computer language."

But aside from the fact that the law does nothing to stop Germans accessing banned material from sites broadcast outside national borders, many Americans believe their approach smacks of censorship.

Back to top | BBC News Home | BBC Homepage	©