Criminalising computer misconduct:Legal and philosophical concerns
Gregor Urbas · ACM SIGCAS Computers and Society · 2004
Computer misconduct (hacking, fraud, privacy breaches, pornography dissemination etc.) has been a part of computing and electronic communication since its early development. The process of criminalisation (enactment of laws creating specific offences covering these activities) has followed in a some what sporadic and uneven way, with notable discrepancies between jurisdictions both internationally and within countries. In Australia, there has been some movement towards uniformity with the enactment of the Cybercrime Act 2001 (Cth) and its equivalents in several States and Territories. Internati onally, there is gradual convergence towards models such as the Council of Europe¿s Convention on Cybercrime. However, the philosophical concerns behind such legislation are not always clear or uniform. Interests sought to be protected from computer misconduct range from traditional concerns of crim inal law (physical safety, personal property, public order etc.) through to larger-scale and more abstract concerns (national infrastructure security and system integrity). This paper assesses legal and philosophical aspects of Australian and comparable computer crime legislation.