The world’s 8 main industrialised countries comprise the United States, Japan, Germany, France, Britain, Italy, Canada and Russia. They called for faster, more innovative responses to crime, after considering problems such as the recent Love Bug virus. The final communique stressed that they wanted to crack down on digital crime rapidly spreading across the globe, but without stifling the growth of e-commerce.
A Canadian delegate from the Information Technology Association, Gaylen Duncan, is reported to have said, “Hacking is a very serious civil and criminal issue. But no, we have not made plans on how to tackle it, but it is on the agenda and we’ve all exchanged e-mail addresses.”
The G8 supported “effective industry-initiated voluntary codes of conduct and standards” without specifying where or how tech firms should do this.
A French diplomat said Paris would progress the issue within the G8, the EU and the Council of Europe, which is presently drafting a convention on cybercrime. The United States, which is helping draft the convention, has already expressed reservations on the concept of a convention. Unlike Europe, the US is alleged to favour self-regulation and not legislation of the internet.