Yaman Akdeniz from the Bilgi University School of Law said that Turkey's future signature of the Council of Europe's 'Convention on Cybercrime' is not a sufficient measure on its own. Akdeniz is the founder of the non-governmental organization Cyber-Rights & Cyber-Liberties based in the UK. He said that according applications should be implemented into domestic law.

Akdeniz told bianet that countries being part of the convention are obliged to handle data responsibly. "Time is ripe to sensitively implement regulations regarding the protection of personal data".

Turkey has not signed yet

Akdeniz pointed out that the regulations of the Convention provide sanctions for child pornography only. He said the convention creates the beginning for broadening law no. 5651 on Crimes Committed via the Internet based on provisions regarding data trade.

Akdeniz explained that the Council of Europe opened the Convention to other countries in a meeting on 26 March this year and defined cybercrimes and methods of criminal investigations and prosecution.

The according draft law related to the European Convention on Cybercrime is expected to be discussed in the Turkish Grand National Assembly (TBMM) during the coming months.

43 countries signed

The Convention consists of 48 articles mainly focussing on crimes such as violations of copyright, illegal entering of information systems (hacking), destroying or illegally obtaining data, forgery via the internet and child pornography.

The Convention was initially launched on 23 November 2001 in Hungary and has been signed by 43 countries in the meantime, 39 of them as members of the Council of Europe.

The Convention was signed by Albania, Armenia, Austria, Azerbaijan, Belgium, Bosnia-Herzegovina, Bulgaria, Croatia, Cyprus, Denmark, Estonia, Finland, France, Germany, Greece, Hungary, Iceland, Ireland, Italy, Liechtenstein, Lithuania, Luxembourg, Malta, Moldova, Montenegro, the Netherlands, Norway, Portugal, Romania, Serbia, Slovakia, Slovenia, Spain, Sweden, Switzerland, Macedonia, Ukraine and the UK.

Canada, Japan, South Africa and the USA signed the Convention even though they are not members of the Council of Europe. (EÖ/VK)