Chapter 5
Cybercrime Law: A European Perspective
Objectives
On completion of this chapter, the student will:
– Be aware of differences between super-national and national legal frameworks.
– Recognize the progression of cybercrime legislation in Europe.
– Be able to list the three the computer crime categories specified in the Cybercrime
Convention:
o Computer-integrity crime
o Computer-assisted crime
o Content-related crime
– Be aware of other computer related offenses:
Multiple Choice Questions
1. Which of the following courts is located in France?
2. In the UK, an application for a search warrant must include which of the following?
3. How do Europe and North America address the challenges of jurisdiction when a computer
crime involves both continents?
4. The English Sentencing Advisory Panel (SAP) categorized the increasing seriousness of
child pornography material into five levels. Which of the following is considered the worst,
level 5?
5. The EU Framework Decision makes illegal access to information systems (intentional,
without right). Member states are required to ensure that this is:
6. The Council of Europe Convention on Cybercrime introduces three categories of computer
offense. The most serious category is:
7. An example of a content-related crime would be:
8. Hacking is an example of:
9. Forgery is an example of:
10. In the UK, prosecution of child pornography falls under what Act?
11. In Ireland, the Non-Fatal Offences Against the State Act of 1997 specifically addresses:
12. The Netherlands claims universal jurisdiction for the crime of:
13. Jurisdiction claims may be based on:
14. In the civil-law countries, such as the Netherlands, criminal law is
15. England became the first European country to enact a law to address computer crime
True or False Questions
1. All cybercrimes can be addressed using existing laws.
2. The criminal justice systems in the EU and US work in essentially the same way.
3. In the UK, it is legal to possess child pornography but illegal to distribute it to others.
4. In the UK, downloading child pornography is
according to the legal definition.
5. Virtual child pornography is illegal under UK law.
6. According to the CoE Convention on Cybercrime, it is not illegal to break into a
computer provided the intruder does not cause any damage.
7. ed by the Lanzarote Convention.
8. Scotland has specific legislation addressing cyberbullying.
9. In Irish computer crime law, jurisdiction is often integrated into the legislative section
setting out the offense.
10. In England, child prostitution and pornography are scheduled offenses to the English
Serious Crime Act 2007.
11. European law is civil-based, whereas the common-law countries are considered an
adversarial system.
12. In the EU, crimes like illegal access, illegal interception, and data interference are
categorized as computer-integrity crimes.
13. In the EU, computer-assisted crimes consist of those crimes which cannot be committed
in the absence of computers or computer networks.
14. In the EU, content-related crimes relate to traditional offenses where computers are tools
rather than targets but, unlike computer-assisted crimes it is the content of data rather
than the result of an action that is the core of the offense.
15. hindering without right to the functioning of
Essay Questions
Discuss the difficulties an examiner might encounter in a transnational investigation.
Research agencies that you would need to contact for five nations outside of Europe.
Scenario
You have been notified of the existence of threatening e-mails being sent to the CEO of your
company. An examination of the e-mails revealed that they originated from outside of the
country.