Cybercrime

= criminal offences which are committed with the aid of ICTs

Description

"Cybercrime (or e-crime) refers to criminal offences which are committed with the aid of ICTs (e.g. internet, mobile phone). Cybercrime laws may encompass broad range of issues, including such activities as hacking, intellectual property violations, dissemination of 'harmful' content such as child pornography or racist and xenophobic materials. Some experts divide cybercrime into three major categories, those committed against persons (e.g. online harrasment or pornography distribution over internet), cybercrimes against property (e.g. illegal sharing of copyrighted movies and music in peer to peers networks or software piracy), and cybercrimes against government (e.g. cyber terrorism). In many countries, cybercrime bills focus merely on economic and state security threads, and fail to recognise cybercrimes against persons, including serious forms of crimes against women, such as cyberstalking or cyber harassment.

At the international level, cybercrime is addressed in the Convention on Cybercrime that attempts to harmonise national laws, improve investigative techniques and increase cooperation among nations. Human rights advocates criticize the failure of this treaty to protect privacy, freedom of expression and civil liberties." (http://www.genderit.org/en/index.shtml?apc=j--e--1)