Digital Forensics

3Cybercrime Law

Inger Marie Sunde

Professor, Norwegian Police University College, Oslo, Norway

This chapter explains the fundamentals of cybercrime law. The general starting points are the universal principles of human rights, the rule of law, and the Cybercrime Convention. The chapter explains how the international legal framework links into national legal systems. It does not, however, have any particular national legal system in mind. Specific cases must always be solved according to the law of the relevant national jurisdiction. This requires familiarity with legal textbooks and primary sources of that jurisdiction. Such information is not provided here.

3.1 Introduction

The expression cybercrime law is applied to signify the “legal regulation of digital crime and digital evidence.” Crime and evidence are different phenomena governed by different sets of legal rules. Whereas provisions of substantive criminal law describe the criminal offenses, rules concerning the collection and use of evidence in criminal investigation and prosecution are laid down in rules of procedural (criminal) law.¹ There is a close factual relation between criminal offenses and evidence. The law defines criminal offenses by description of the conditions that the perpetrator must fulfill. Conviction of a crime requires proof beyond any reasonable doubt. The prosecutor has the burden of proof and must prove each condition of the crime(s) included in the criminal charge. Proof is a product of evidence. ...