Secret Service paranoia whips up snooping storm

The storm was whipped up when leading privacy lobbyists claimed certain intelligence agencies, including the FBI and the FSB (the body which replaced the KGB), have been covertly involved in drafting key legislation.

The debate centres around the Convention on Cybercrime, which is currently in its 23rd draft. If accepted, it will become law in the Council of Europe's 43 member states and will standardise regulations on hacking and copyright violation. It will also define boundaries of taste for website content, and may be adopted as a template for similar legislation throughout the world.

The European response comes in the wake of allegations from privacy lobby groups that both the FBI and the FSB have made significant contributions to the draft bill.

According to a source close to the situation, Henrik Kasperson, one of the leading members of the panel drawing up the legislation, accused the Council of Europe of collusion with the FSB.

But this was vigorously denied by the Council of Europe. Peter Csonka, a European spokesman for the cybercrime bill, said that raising the spectre of intelligence agency involvement is simply an attempt by civil liberties groups to discredit the bill.

Csonka said: "Neither the FSB or the Russian Government have been involved in this. It is in the interests of these groups to misrepresent this whole drafting process."

The civil liberties lobby is concerned that attempts to curb racism and associated activities could be broadened under such laws to criminalise the websites of political organisations which are not approved of by European governments.

Documents obtained by silicon.com add some credence to Kasperson's claim. The documents contain minutes of a closed session of security and intelligence experts, including members of the FSB. They clearly demonstrate that the current Russian administration wishes to be involved in what is likely to become a global cybercrime blueprint.

One of President Vladmir Putin's top advisors is recorded as saying that one of the key aims of Russian information security policy will be the "harmonisation of standards relative to informatization (sic) and information security of computer... and telecoms systems".

Inquiries by silicon.com have also determined that Russian interests have been represented in the debate over cybercrime in Europe by quasi government lobbying organisations, unknown to European legislators.