The UN’s New Cybercrime Convention: A Boon to Law Enforcement or a Danger to Fundamental Rights?

  • Panel
  • Maritime
  • Wednesday 21.05 — 16:00 - 17:15

Organising Institution

Georgia Institute of Technology

United States

The School of Cybersecurity and Privacy (SCP) is one of the leading cybersecurity programs in the United States of America, housed within the College of Computing at the Georgia Institute of Technology (Georgia Tech). As a groundbreaking interdisciplinary school, SCP strives to create security for everyone and everything, every day. The research conducted by faculty and students have earned recognition on the national and global stage due to their focus on tackling societal problems with multidisciplinary approaches. Cybersecurity graduates from Georgia Tech are sought by the world’s most prominent businesses, academic institutions, and public policy centers.
  • Academic 2
  • Business 2
  • Policy 2
The United Nations has completed work on a new multilateral Convention Against Cybercrime; many UN members are expected to sign in 2025. The Convention obliges State Parties to criminalize a range of cyber-dependent offenses and to assist each other in obtaining electronic evidence for criminal investigations and prosecutions. The UN Convention has many similarities to the Council of Europe (COE) Cybercrime Convention (Budapest Convention). Nonetheless, the new instrument has attracted strong opposition from human rights groups and technology companies. They believe the UN Convention lacks safeguards against abuse by authoritarian governments seeking to suppress free speech and dissent, and that it could undermine data protection guarantees. This panel will explore the UN Convention’s potential law enforcement benefits, its value in relation to the Budapest Convention, and the sufficiency of its protections against misuse.

Questions to be answered

  1. How will the UN Cybercrime Convention assist law enforcement in obtaining electronic evidence for criminal investigations and prosecutions?
  2. What are the main arguments that the UN Convention can potentially be abused by authoritarian governments to suppress free speech and dissent as well as to undermine data protection guarantees?
  3. What suggestions have been put forth to protect against the possible misuse of the provisions in the UN Convention?
  4. How do the UN Convention and the Budapest Convention compare and what are the key differences?

Moderator

Kenneth Propp

Georgetown University Law Center - United States

Kenneth Propp teaches European Union Law at Georgetown University Law Center, and serves as Senior Fellow at the Atlantic Council’s Europe Center in Washington, D.C. He also is Senior Research Fellow for the Cross-Border Data Forum, and a Contributing Editor at the Lawfare blog. From 2016-2018, he was director of trade policy for BSA | The Software Alliance, an association of major software companies. From 2011-2015, he served as Legal Counselor at the US Mission to the European Union in Brussels, Belgium, where he led U.S. government engagement with the EU on digital and privacy issues. Prior to that, he was as a senior lawyer in the Office of the Legal Adviser, U.S. Department of State, specializing in law enforcement and intelligence, and economic and business matters, and also served as legal adviser to the US Embassy in Germany. He holds a J.D. from Harvard Law School and a bachelor’s degree from Amherst College.

Speaker

Ignacio Gomez Navarro

E-Evidence and Cybercrime, European Commission - Europe

Ignacio GÓMEZ NAVARRO is Team Leader in the Security in the Digital Age unit of the European Commission Directorate-General for Migration and Home Affairs (DG HOME). Before joining the Commission, Ignacio worked as Legal Officer in the Secretariat of the European Data Protection Board (EDPB) where he covered files on security, law enforcement, international data transfers, and GDPR consistency procedures. Ignacio was also Senior Counsel in the Office of Legal Affairs of the INTERPOL General Secretariat.

Speaker

Elonnai Hickok

Global Network Initiative - International

As Managing Director, Elonnai works to strengthen and grow a unique and impactful multistakeholder organization working for the advancement of freedom of expression and privacy. She has contributed to international policy initiatives and has presented worldwide on issues of digital rights and emerging technology and the counterbalancing of governmental and individual interests and rights. She has developed research and written extensively on issues relating to privacy, cybersecurity, surveillance, intermediary liability, and emerging technologies including artificial intelligence. She currently serves as a member to a number of multi-stakeholder initiatives including as the co-chair to the Freedom Online Coalition Advisory Network, a member of the GIFCT Independent Advisory Committee, and as a member to the ChristChurch Call Advisory Network. Formerly, Elonnai was a non-resident scholar at the Carnegie Endowment for International Peace and the chief operating officer of the Centre for Internet & Society, India. Elonnai graduated from the University of Toronto, where she studied international development and political science.

Speaker

DeBrae Kennedy-Mayo

Georgia Institute of Technology - United States

DeBrae Kennedy-Mayo holds the title of Faculty in Law & Ethics at the Georgia Institute of Technology. She researches, teaches, and speaks on legal issues concerning privacy, cybersecurity, and artificial intelligence. She is the co-author of U.S. PRIVATE-SECTOR PRIVACY, published by International Association of Privacy Professionals (IAPP). She is Senior Fellow at the Cross-Border Data Forum, and has co-authored numerous papers on cross-border data flows. She holds a Juris Doctorate (JD) from Emory University School of Law and is a licensed attorney in the United States. Prior to becoming an attorney, she worked for U.S. President Jimmy Carter at The Carter Center as part of The America Project. She has also pursued several entrepreneurial ventures.

Speaker

Jan Kralik

Cybercrime Division, Council of Europe - Europe

Jan Kralik (PhD) joined the Council of Europe in September 2022 and is currently working for the Cybercrime Division where he supports the Cybercrime Convention Committee (T-CY). Prior to that he worked for various governmental departments in the Slovak Republic. While working for the Ministry of Justice of the Slovak Republic, Jan served as the T-CY Slovak Representative and participated in the negotiations of the Second Additional Protocol to the Budapest Convention on Cybercrime. He has also experience working with The Group of States against Corruption (GRECO).