European and US authorities moved this week to toughen up legislation governing the use of electronic communications in the wake of last week's terrorist attacks on the World Trade Centre and the Pentagon. The FBI also asked several internet service providers (ISPs) to install a software package called Carnivore, which monitors personal e-mails and internet traffic.

Irish Green MEP Ms Patricia McKenna yesterday criticised the speedy crackdown by authorities and warned the measures could infringe people's civil liberties. Her comments come the week after the European Parliament published its final report on the Echelon spy system, which is used by the US, along with Britain and others, to intercept satellite communications.

She was responding to a decision by Council of Europe ambassadors to ratify a convention on cybercrime on Wednesday that will enable police forces to seize computer-based content and monitor internet traffic. New rules will make it much easier for European police forces to investigate computer crime and co-ordinate investigations over national boundaries.

The European convention mandates preservation of computer-stored data, preservation and rapid disclosure of data relating to traffic, system search and seizure, real-time collection of traffic data, and interception of content data.

It will deal particularly with infringements of copyright, computer-related fraud, child pornography and violations of network security. A protocol has also been included to cover the propagation of racist and xenophobic ideas over the internet.

It is expected that Ireland will be asked to sign the convention at a meeting in Strasbourg on November 7th.

The convention, which took four years to negotiate, will come into force when five states, at least three of which are members of the Council of Europe, ratify it.

A spokeswoman for the Council of Europe said yesterday the ambassador's ratification of the convention had nothing to do with the terrorist attack on the US. She also pointed out that the convention would only pass into law in member-states if it was agreed by each country.

However, some 22 groups in nine European countries are campaigning against the new convention, which they believe will undermine privacy and civil liberties.They have formed an umbrella group called Global Internet Liberty Campaign.

In an interview with The Irish Times, Ms McKenna said the convention would affect citizen's privacy and civil liberties. She also criticised the lack of debate on these issues within the Council of Europe.

"No non-government organisations or industry was involved in the working group which prepared the text," she said. "The time to get these issues addressed is in the working group."

Ms McKenna said there was a danger that the terrorist attacks in the US would be used to push through legislation that did not take account of civil rights. "In debate in the (European) Parliament, there was a major push to have a campaign against terrorism but no-one was speaking up about defending civil rights."

The Council of Europe's 43 member-states helped to prepare the text of the convention. Canada, the United States, Japan - which have observer status - and South Africa were also actively involved.

In the US, several politicians have urged a crackdown on the development of cryptography software, as it is suspected that the followers of chief suspect Osama bin Laden use it to protect messages.

In a separate development, several ISPs were asked by the FBI to install special monitoring equipment which would enable authorities to sift through e-mails.

Mr David Baker, vice-president law and public policy for US service provider Earthlink, told The Irish Times that federal law enforcers visited the company within 24 hours of the terrorist attack to install Carnivore. "We have no problem with valid requests for information but only without compromising our members privacy," said Mr Baker. "In no event can law enforcers just sift through all e-mail records."

Last year, Earthlink was taken to court by federal authorities for not allowing them to install Carnivore. Earthlink lost the case but did not have to comply because the law warrants had run out.

In the current climate in the US, it is very possible that tougher legislation will be introduced to crack down on the threat of terrorism.

"To fight terrorism it's particularly important that we don't trample on civil liberties," said Mr Baker. "I don't see privacy versus security as mutually exclusive."