ABSTRACT
This contribution serves as critique of current criminal law regulations of global digitality. First, it defines criminal law of global digitality as “cybercrime” and examines the history and shortcomings of the term “cybercrime”. Next follows an analysis of the particular global challenges which arise from cybercrime. In the next two sections, the analysis differentiates between legislative and policy approaches to cybercrime, before examining the specific regulations and policies implemented in past decades. It concludes with a discussion of the characteristics of global digitality criminal law and the weaknesses of current cybercrime law. I argue that individual liberties are threatened by cybercrime prohibitions (substantive criminal law). Technical developments and cybercrime regulations also increase the surveillance possibilities of law enforcement authorities ranging from satellite tracking to data mining. Furthermore, respect for the suspect’s procedural rights, privacy rights and rule-of-law values plays a minor role in cybercrime legislation (procedural criminal law). In addition, the global dimension of cybercrime provokes jurisdictional conflicts that must be addressed, for example, when it comes to determining where the crime was committed. However, these challenges raise different issues of principle that are widely debated among critics of cybercrime law.
