Since the late 1980s, the Council has addressed the growing international concern over computer-related crimes. In 1997, it established a Committee of Experts on Crime in Cyberspace (PC-CY) to begin drafting a binding Convention to facilitate international cooperation in the investigation and prosecution of computer crimes. The United States actively participated in both the drafting and plenary sessions (Chawki).

The Convention stipulates actions targeted at national and inter-governmental levels, directed to prevent unlawful infringement of computer system functions. It divides cybercrime into: hacking of computer systems, fraud, forbidden content (racist websites and child porn content) and breaking copyright laws. The Convention has been signed by 32 European and non-European States and ratified by nine. However, the Convention on Cybercrime is, so far, the only internationally binding legal basis for strengthened cooperation worldwide.

At the Eleventh United Nations Congress on Crime Prevention and Criminal Justice in Bangkok on April 26, 2005,...
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