With regard to high-tech crime, we must start by recognizing that new computer and telecommunications technologies offer unprecedented opportunities for global communication. This threat takes at least two forms. First, sophisticated criminals are targeting computer and telecommunications systems to obtain or alter valuable information without authority and may attempt to disrupt critical commercial and public systems. Second, criminals, including members of organized crime groups and terrorists, are using these new technologies to facilitate traditional offenses. Clearly, the misuse of information systems in these ways poses a serious threat to public safety.
National laws apply to the Internet and other global networks.
But while the enactment and enforcement of criminal laws have been, and remain, a national responsibility, the nature of modern communications networks makes it impossible for any country acting alone to address this emerging high-tech crime problem. A common approach addressing the unique, borderless nature of global networks is needed and must have several distinct components. Each country must have in place domestic laws that ensure that the improper use of computer networks is appropriately criminalized and that evidence of high-tech crimes can be preserved and collected in a timely fashion. Such domestic efforts must be complemented by a new level of international cooperation, especially since global networks facilitate the commission of transborder offenses. Therefore, consistent with principles of sovereignty and the protection of human rights, democratic freedoms and privacy, nations must be able to collect and exchange information internationally, especially within the short time frame so often required when investigating international high-tech crimes.