Introduction—Cybercrime: A Note on International Issues

Abstract

Cybercrime investigations often transcend national boundaries. This creates problems for investigators because the procedural laws that govern the conduct of criminal investigations are territorially-based; that is, they apply only within the territory of the country which promulgated those laws. Cybercrime investigations often require that evidence be traced, preserved and collected in more than one country, which of course means that the process is governing by the laws of multiple nations. The formal processes that have been created to govern transnational evidence-gathering are cumbersome and ineffective in cybercrime investigations, which move quickly; officers therefore tend to rely on informal methods, which are idiosyncratic in nature.