US to reject broad UN cybercrime treaty

The U.S. said that it will reject an updated United Nations cybercrime treaty draft should it maintain an expansive definition of cyber enabled crimes as pushed by Russia and China, as well as lack human rights protections, according to The Record, a news site by cybersecurity firm Recorded Future. Opposition to the broad scope of the treaty has also gained traction among other countries, according to a State Department official. "Working with our allies and partners we've been able to push back and note objections, note language contradictions, etc. And [we're] very much emphasizing that the time is short," said the official. In a new open letter, the Human Rights Watch, Access Now, Electric Frontier Foundation, and dozens of other human rights entities have urged for the disapproval of any cybercrime treaty draft that adds to the need to combat cybercrime. "National and regional cybercrime laws are regrettably far too often misused to unjustly target journalists and security researchers, suppress dissent and whistleblowers, endanger human rights defenders, limit free expression, and justify unnecessary and disproportionate state surveillance measures," said the organizations.