Fighting cybercrime: the Budapest Convention

The Budapest Convention, which entered into force in 2004, is the first international treaty on cybercrime, which covers a range of abuses including child pornography, fraud, hate crimes, copyright infringement and hacking. It was drawn up by the Council of Europe, and aims to harmonise national laws on cybercrime, and to set up a fast and effective regime of international cooperation.

47 countries have so far ratified the treaty, including the USA, Japan, Canada and Australia. It has been supplemented by an Additional Protocol making it a criminal offence to publish racist and xenophobic propaganda via a computer network.