Five countries unite over cybercrime
Cybercrime will be discussed by Attorneys General from Australia, Canada, New Zealand, USA and England/Wales.
The Attorneys General from 5 countries are meeting in London this week to strengthen the international fight against cybercrime.
The Attorney General Dominic Grieve QC MP, is hosting the annual meeting of his counterparts from Australia, Canada, New Zealand and the USA from 9 to 11 July.
Cybercrime is one of the UK government’s international criminal justice priorities, and this conference brings together leaders from across the five governments and the National Crime Agency to examine emerging issues and existing trends.
The Attorney General said:
Cybercrime evolves rapidly and presents governments daily with fresh challenges in protecting the public. By looking at how each of us has dealt with the challenge we will identify best practice and what has worked and, perhaps more importantly, what has not.
We will look at how we can collectively help one another to present a coordinated and united front against those who would wish to abuse what is predominantly a force for good.
This is a fast developing and highly relevant field for discussion. The rise of the internet and technology means that the world - our individual countries - our jurisdictions - are interconnected in ways which were never before possible or imagined.
Topics being discussed include:
- freedom of expression, social media and contempt of court
- privacy and information sharing in cybercrime investigations
- cyberbullying: prevalence and responses
- international cooperation in cross-border investigations and prosecutions
- building international capability to tackle cyber crime
The Attorney General of England and Wales is looking to the conference to develop a register of capacity building activity across the ‘Quintet’ countries. This would have a particular emphasis on the education of prosecutors and the judiciary on cybercrime.
Other discussions will include how to reassure the public of the safeguards concerning agency powers in accessing private data and how to improve the Mutual Legal Assistance process - where countries exchange information for the prevention of crime.
Background
There is no legal definition of ‘cybercrime’, but it is understood to include crimes that only exist in the digital world, such as hacking and denial of service attacks and cyber-enabled: crimes, such as fraud and transmission of indecent images of children.
The Quintet is an annual meeting of Attorneys General to share experience in dealing with complex and cross-border legal issues.
The attendees are:
- Senator the Hon George Brandis QC – Attorney General of Australia
- Hon Peter Gordon MacKay, PC, QC, MP - Minister of Justice and Attorney General of Canada
- Hon Christopher Finlayson QC MP - Attorney General of New Zealand
- Rt Hon Dominic Grieve QC MP - Attorney General, England and Wales
- Hon Eric H. Holder, Jr. - Attorney General, United States of America
Previous meetings of the Quintet:
- 2009 – London
- 2010 – Washington DC
- 2011 – Sydney
- 2012 – Ottawa
- 2013 – Auckland
Updates to this page
Published 8 July 2014Last updated 10 July 2014 + show all updates
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