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The IT Law Wiki

Citation[]

Judge Stein Schjolberg & Amanda Hubbard, Harmonizing National Legal Approaches on Cybercrime (CYB/04) (June 10, 2005) (full-text).

Overview[]

This background paper deals mainly with harmonizing criminal enforcement mechanisms for a few reasons. First, all countries have criminal justice systems and not all countries have yet recognized private rights of property or of enforcement for cyberspace. Second, the world has a long history of cooperation and harmonization in criminal matters, which gives rise to the concepts of extradition of accused perpetrators, evidentiary assistance, and other matters. Such a tradition is not as readily available for comparison. Lastly, standardization and harmonization of laws for cyberspace is still relatively new in the world of law, having only come about in the last twenty-five years of centuries-old legal systems. As such, the authors believe the simplest way to make the greatest advances is to focus on creating a baseline of laws that protect the population from the worst offences, and build on that base over time, as States develop greater standardization and legal capacity.

The paper may briefly note some of the trends in civil or private enforcement actions, where appropriate and relevant to the larger discussion, but leaves thorough discussion of those issues to experts who practice law in that field.