What's Wrong With the New UN Cybercrime Treaty

On August 8th, a committee representing most UN Member States approved a draft text of a new United Nations Convention Against Cybercrime. Despite the support from the majority of UN member states, civil society and private sector groups are arguing against its adoption. In fact, the proposed Convention on Cybercrime has the dubious distinction of being opposed by industry titans like CISCO, Amazon, and Microsoft, as well as major watchdogs such as the Electronic Frontier Foundation and Human Rights Watch. So, what is the problem with this convention? And how did an idea that originated with Russia, and is backed by China, North Korea, Myanmar, Nicaragua, Syria, Cambodia, Venezuela, and Belarus, end up gaining the support of most other UN member states, including the United States and Europe? Today’s episode of To Save Us From Hell takes a deep dive into this question and much more.