ABSTRACT
This introduction presents an overview of key concepts discussed in the subsequent chapters of the book. The book briefly describes the primary international instrument on cybercrime, the Council of Europe Convention on Cybercrime. Of course it could be questioned whether the distinction between 'computer crime' and 'cybercrime' continues to be relevant in the modern era of ubiquitous internet connections, particularly with the advancement of mobile technologies. It focuses on cybercrime and not computer crime. Accordingly, the internet is at the heart of this book. It is concerned with crimes that are committed on, or facilitated by, the internet, which is the limiting factor. The book adopts an adaptation of Wall's categorisation and is categorised as Crimes against computers, Crimes against property, Crimes involving illicit content, and Crimes against the person. It concerns crime rather than the procedural aspects of investigating and prosecuting the offences. Ian Walden argues that cybercrime is a subset of computer crime.
