O’Donoghue signs EU cybercrime convention

The Minister for Justice, Mr O’Donoghue, today signed the Council of Europe Convention on Cybercrime in Brussels on behalf of the State.

"The main objective of the Convention is to protect society against new types of serious crime, as well as against traditional types of crime using new technologies," said Mr O’Donoghue.

"The Convention will be an important element in tackling crimes such as fraud and child pornography using the new technologies, and crimes such as hacking or virus creation which impact on the legitimate use of information communications," he said.

The Minister said: "The criminal law must keep abreast of developments which offer highly sophisticated opportunities for misusing cyberspace and causing damage.

"Paedophiles, for example, have been known to use the Internet to identify and, in some cases, to abduct children. Criminals have raided the websites of others to erase or distort data and may even open their own to defraud customers, or to sell forbidden goods such as drugs and pornography.

"Given the cross-border nature of such information networks, an international effort is needed to respond to such abuse," Mr O’Donoghue said.

The Convention is the first international treaty on crimes committed via the Internet and other computer networks.

It is aimed principally at:

• (i) Harmonising the domestic criminal substantive law elements of offences in the areas of cybercrime;

• (ii) Providing for the powers to investigate and prosecute such offences; and

• (iii) Setting up a fast and effective regime of international co-operation.