<EFF has joined forces with 110 NGOs today in a joint statement delivered to the United Nations Ad Hoc Committee, clearly outlining civil society non-negotiable redlines for the proposed UN Cybercrime Treaty, and asserting that states should reject the proposed treaty if these essential changes are not implemented. <Historically, cybercrime legislation has been exploited to target journalists and security researchers, suppress dissent and whistleblowers, endanger human rights defenders, limit free expression, and justify unnecessary and disproportionate state surveillance measures.<The proposed treaty concluding session will be held at the UN Headquarters in New York from January 29 to February 10th. EFF will be attending in person.https://www.eff.org/deeplinks/2024/01/eff-and-more-100-ngos-set-non-negotiable-redlines-ahead-un-cybercrime-treatyTLDR (my opinionated interpretation)
The surveillance industrial complex is trying to hack government institutions by creating a global surveillance pact
The double-speak disguise they are using is "Cybercrime Treaty"
Their aim seems to be to persecute people like journalists and security researchers
They want to blackmail journalists to give up sources or blackmail cryptographers to put security-holes into cryptography.
Basically a declaration of war against the means of self-defense for civil society.
Questions
0) Are the orgs like EFF strong enough to protect us ?
1) it appears to violate like 3/4 of all human-rights, can civil rights org repeal this in courts ?
2) how effective are these international treaties ?
can countries compensate with national laws to make these persecutions impractical ?
3) Will journalists and cryptographers have to go underground to be able to do their work ?
4) Should there be a political effort to make a big public control organization that outranks and regulates the surveillance industrial complex, to enforce privacy, journalistic freedom etc. from the top down ?