Budapest, 23/11/2001 (Agence Europe) - The international convention on the fight against cybercrime, the fist international treaty in this field, was signed on Friday in Budapest by thirty countries, including 12 EU Member States, and the United States. Prepared under the aegis of the Council of Europe, the Convention aims at "a common criminal policy to protect society against cybercrime, mainly with the adoption of appropriate legislation and the stimulation of international cooperation" and by "intensifying cooperation" between States. The Convention covers a large range of infringements, relating to IT piracy (illegal access, illegal interception of data, attacks on the integrity of the computer system …) and to content (child pornography, trespassing on intellectual property). It provides for the States that are party to the convention to establish these acts in penal infringement, and to avail themselves of the legislation needed to intercept and to store data. The Convention is the fruit of four years of work by experts from the Council of Europe, to which experts from the United States, Canada, Japan and other countries are associated. It is foreseen that it will be completed by an additional protocol aimed at making any diffusion of racist or xenophobic propaganda through IT networks a criminal offence. The Convention is criticised by many NGOs, which mainly protest against the provisions relating to data interception. It will take effect as soon as five countries, including three members of the Council of Europe, have ratified it.