Political/Legal Problems

The problem with cybercrime is that it is generally international. In order to investigate and prosecute there must be cooperation, and generally the countries with cybercrime hotspots aren't the most cooperative, like China and Russia. And if two countries cannot reach a state of cooperation where is the justice? All the money a cyber criminal stole cannot be retrieved and the economic impact grows.

There is also no international definition of cybercrime. So countries all have their own set of rules, but as cybercrime generally starts in one country and attacks another it makes it unclear whose rules should be followed, because the crime occurs in one country, but affects another country. And the evidence generally is not just one country so it cannot be easily collected.

Even when cybercrime is local, the chance of finding enough evidence to prosecute in slim. For example, In 2010, fraud tax returns totaled 1.5 million which equals $5.2 billion dollars in revenue for criminals. This means 1.5 billion people who don't get their tax returns, and the IRS says this problem is growing. 

Then there is the problem, who should be legally responsible?  Should a cafe that provides Wi-Fi be responsible for crimes committed on that Wi-Fi? And should botnet infected computers have legal responsibility in their actions?

For example, in January, Anonymous, infamous hacking group, attacked the US government in response to the FBI shutting down Megaupload. Followers of Anonymous on Twitter would receive tweets containing links that contributed to the hack. According to legal terms DOS attacks are illegal; however many participants believed they were tricked so they shouldn't be held accountable. So should they be held accountable?

megaupload.com/

More information about political and legal problems can be found at the website below:
cps182cybercrime.wordpress.com/politicallegal-issues/

Group GT2-S1. "Political and Legal Issues." Cybercrime. WordPress.com, n.d. Web. 09 Dec. 2012.

Lizette Alvarez. With personal data in hand, thieves file early and often. New York Times, May 2012.