Today’s links Holy CRAP the UN Cybercrime Treaty is a nightmare: “Cybercrime” is “anything any government dislikes” and every government will have to help every other government fight it. Hey look at this: Delights to delectate. This day in history: 2009, 2014, 2019, 2023 Upcoming appearances: Where to find me. Recent appearances: Where I’ve been. Latest books: You keep readin’ em, I’ll keep writin’ ’em. Upcoming books: Like I said, I’ll keep writin’ ’em. Colophon: All the rest. Holy CRAP the UN Cybercrime Treaty is a nightmare (permalink) If there’s one thing I learned from all my years as an NGO delegate to UN specialized agencies, it’s that UN treaties are dangerous, liable to capture by unholy alliances of authoritarian states and rapacious global capitalists. Most of my UN work was on copyright and “paracopyright,” and my track record was 2:0; I helped kill a terrible treaty (the WIPO Broadcast Treaty) and helped pass a great one (the Marrakesh Treaty on the rights of people with disabilities to access copyrighted works): https://www.wipo.int/treaties/en/ip/marrakesh/ It’s been many years since I had to shave and stuff myself into a suit and tie and go to Geneva, and I don’t miss it – and thankfully, I have colleagues who do that work, better than I ever did. Yesterday, I heard from one such EFF colleague, Katitza Rodriguez, about the Cybercrime Treaty, which is about to pass, and which is, to put it mildly, terrifying: https://www.eff.org/deeplinks/2024/07/un-cybercrime-draft-convention-dangerously-expands-state-surveillance-powers Look, cybercrime is a real thing, from pig butchering…Pluralistic: Holy CRAP the UN Cybercrime Treaty is a nightmare (23 Jul 2024)