E/CN.15/2002/8 included making the operations of producers, traffickers and other offenders more efficient and making the investigation and prosecution of such activities more difficult. The convergence of technologies had meant that offenders used not only computers and the Internet, but also facsimile machines, electronic pagers, pocket organizers and cellular telephones. Such devices are protected with encryption, firewalls and other security software and pre-paid accounts are used to avoid having to furnish service providers with true identities and geographical addresses for billing purposes. The Board also noted the occurrence of cases in which investigative targets had engaged in counter-offensive activities against law enforcement agencies. Some had hired professional security experts to assist in protecting their communications and data storage, while others had used “back-hacking” techniques to attack investigators’ computers in an attempt to damage evidence or sabotage investigative efforts. In one case equipment had been stolen from investigators to gain the information needed to intercept their communications, with the result that the investigators were identified and threatened. 11 19. While the use of new technologies to directly support drug trafficking was clearly a major concern, the Board also identified the use of Internet pharmacies as suppliers of prescribed narcotic drugs and psychotropic substances as a problem for national regulators and, more generally, noted the concerns of experts about the availability of information that encouraged illicit drug use or minimized the risks involved. The dissemination of information about how to produce illicit drugs and the availability of precursor chemicals and related information were also seen as problems. 12 20. On a more positive note, the Board also examined the increasing use of secure Internet communications as the basis for international cooperation and noted that the Internet could also be used by international and national organizations as a means of prevention, by the dissemination of information to educate and dissuade potential drug abusers. 13 21. The Board made a number of recommendations intended to ensure that drug enforcement personnel had adequate training, resources and legal powers to deal effectively with the problems mentioned. They related to the resources needed to attract skilled personnel, 6 hardware and software needed to conduct investigations and sufficient critical infrastructure protection to shield investigations from sophisticated attacks. Several recommendations were directed at the positive use of technologies, in particular for education and prevention efforts, as well as cooperation between law enforcement, service providers and users of the technologies to identify and respond effectively to abuses. The Board also discussed the need for international cooperation and standards and recommended speedy ratification of the Council of Europe’s Convention on Cybercrime, as well as consideration of the development of a United Nations convention against cybercrime. 14 22. Following the World Congress held in Stockholm in August 1996, the Government of Japan hosted the Second World Congress against the Commercial Sexual Exploitation of Children in Yokohama from 17 to 20 December 2001, co-organized by the United Nations Children’s Fund (UNICEF), End Child Prostitution in Asian Tourism (ECPAT) International and the NGO Group for the Convention on the Rights of the Child. UNICEF and a number of the nongovernmental organizations and individual experts who attended expressed concern about the impact of new technologies on the sexual exploitation of children. A major focus of that concern was the ways in which the technologies supported, encouraged or facilitated the production and dissemination of child pornography. The advent of digital photography, for example, had made production much easier, while encryption and steganography were used to conceal pornography from investigators. 15 The Internet itself was used to disseminate child pornography, making relatively lowrisk access easy, increasing demand and making detection, interdiction, investigation and seizure difficult. Ease of access and the reduction of risk to offenders were seen as factors contributing to increased demand for child pornography, leading to an increased risk for children. Other concerns were also expressed about new technologies. The use of the Internet by paedophiles to make anonymous contact with children, leading in some cases to abductions, was one such concern. In its concluding declaration, the Yokohama Global Commitment 2001, the Second World Congress called for the taking of adequate measures to address the negative aspects of new technologies, in particular the role played by the Internet in child pornography. It also recognized the potential for new technologies for