NAVIGATING THE LABYRINTH GLOBAL CYBERCRIME GOVERNANCE IN ULTRA-DIGITAL AGE

Abstract

Cybercrime is global by nature as it traverses on the internet. It sees no international boundaries, and herein lies the problem. The trans-border nature of cybercrime gives it a totally different dimension that renders traditional crime investigation techniques and procedures redundant. While new age technologies make our daily lives simpler and more efficient, they also provide the cyber-criminals a wider canvas to operate upon. Law enforcement is always playing a catch-up game with the cyber-criminals on the technology front. Footprints of a typical trans-border cybercrime may lie in multiple countries; this gives rise to difficult questions like which country’s territorial jurisdiction will apply, victim or accused? Which country’s cyber law will apply, victim or accused? How to ensure that digital evidence in a third country does not get tampered before it is seized by law enforcement? How to trace the computing machines (that have been used by cyber-criminals) across the globe and seize them? How to transfer digital evidence to another country? These are questions that are difficult to answer today. Global cybercrime governance plays a major role in providing a framework for resolution of such complex situations. This paper attempts to study the existing global cybercrime governance framework and suggest measures to strengthen the same, to reduce the trans-border cybercrime globally and enhance conviction of cyber-criminals, irrespective of their country.