Moscow calls for doing more on legal basis for countering cyber-terrorism – Gryzlov

September 16

Russian State Duma Speaker Boris Gryzlov has called upon his fellow lawmakers at the meeting of G8 heads of parliament, currently under way in St. Petersburg, to do more to respond to cyber-terrorism and establish a legal basis for fighting it.

"We are convinced that there is a real need for legislation to help fight cyber-terrorism in the realm of computer communications," he said, citing the misuse of global information networks by terrorists for coordination of attacks as well as for propaganda.

"We no longer think that the existing international legal basis, first of all the Council of Europe's Convention on Cybercrime (2001), is enough to effectively counter increasingly extensive and sophisticated terrorist activities. What we need is an adequate response to new computer-related terrorist challenges. One way to accomplish this is by adopting laws," the Russian speaker said.

By drafting new legal acts on cyber-terrorism, he highlighted, the G8 would send an important message to the international community.

 

Gryzlov also called for the modernization of the international legal framework for helping police officers get legal assistance from their counterparts abroad during criminal investigations.