Biden admin to support controversial UN cybercrime convention

The United States will support the United Nations cybercrime convention when it comes up for a vote this week, top officials said Sunday night.

The decision follows months of internal deliberations at the White House and other agencies over whether to support the treaty, which digital rights groups and other officials have raised serious concerns over due to its potential misuse by countries like Russia and China.

A senior administration official, speaking anonymously as a condition of briefing reporters, said Sunday night ahead of an anticipated United Nations motion on the treaty on Monday that the U.S. “decided to remain with consensus” and support the treaty moving forward. This came after the U.S. voted in favor of the treaty at the end of the committee effort to craft it earlier this year.

The official stressed that this choice came after reviewing “hundreds” of written submissions from nongovernmental organizations and after consulting with foreign allied nations, many of which the official said plan to also support the treaty. They also stressed the need for the U.S. to be able to influence future updates to the treaty, made easier they argued by supporting it from the beginning.

“Most importantly, the U.S. government assessed that our ability to influence the implementation of the convention in a rights-respecting manner is greater with the U.S. joining consensus with allies and partners,” the official said.

The decision is likely to face pushback from human rights groups and lawmakers on Capitol Hill, who have criticized the treaty for potentially being used by Russia, China and others to justify surveillance of their citizens and infringing on digital rights. A group of Senate Democrats led by Sen. Ron Wyden (D-Ore.) last month sent a letter to the White House and the Commerce, Justice and State departments urging the Biden administration not to support the treaty.

In order to help address concerns, the Biden administration is planning to develop a “detailed plan to address risks in the implementation and use of the convention,” the official said. They added the administration will engage with nongovernmental groups to help shape this, which will include language on ways to monitor if other nations are abusing the treaty’s provisions. The official said part of this would include a meeting on Wednesday led by the Commerce Department with groups in the human rights and tech sectors.

One key concern brought up by stakeholders opposing the treaty was a clause that would allow other nations that sign on to the treaty to request data on potential serious crimes in other nations. The official vowed that if these requests come in, the Justice Department will “closely scrutinize” them and “refuse to provide any assistance that’s inconsistent with the convention.”

A second senior administration official, also speaking anonymously as a condition of discussing the treaty, said the administration had also concluded that the treaty, depending on which countries signed on, would also expand the list of nations that would cooperate with the U.S. on arresting cybercriminals and extraditing them to U.S. territory to stand trial.

The first official said the cybercrime convention is expected to be addressed by a “consensus proceeding” on Monday. According to the U.N.’s website, the U.N.’s Social, Humanitarian and Cultural Committee is due to take action on the draft treaty Monday morning.

The treaty is unlikely to go any further than getting support from the U.S. during a General Assembly vote, as all U.N. treaties have to be ratified by two-thirds of the Senate to go into effect, a difficult number to hit in a polarized Congress.