Cybercrime Treaty Draft: Take 23
Misc.
11/13/2000; 12:11:14 PM

'The world's first cybercrime treaty is being hastily redrafted after Internet lobby groups assailed it as a threat to human rights that could have "a chilling effect on the free flow of information and ideas."...

'"We were surprised by the violence of these comments," said Peter Csonka, deputy head of the Council of Europe's economic crime division which oversees the drafting.

'"We do not want to pass a text against the people," he told Reuters. "We have learned we have to explain what we mean in plain language because legal terms are sometimes not clear."...

'Last month, 35 lobby groups -- ranging from Internet users to civil liberties activists and anti-censorship groups -- wrote to the council urging it to hold up the treaty.'

I'm not convinced that the legal terms are unclear; I'd still lean towards the possibility that the drafters really have no clue how to assess the impact of various provisions... though I guess this is merely par for the course for regulators.

You know, after multiple thousands of years of government, and a couple hundred years of dominance by the scientific method, you'd think the two would be put together and it would be common practice to analyze laws and treaties to see what effects they might have.  What are all those so-called Polical "Scientists" doing with their time, anyhow? (Ah yes, figuring out how to con the public into electing a candidate ... how glad I am to have Political Scientists!)