Cyber Crimes in Jordan: A Legal Assessment on the Effectiveness of Information System Crimes Law No (30) of 2010
Raed S. A. Faqir · International journal of cyber criminology · 2013
IntroductionCyber-crimes represent a real challenge to all criminal justice systems all over the world including Jordan. In Jordan, there is a real rise in the number of cyber-crimes; the record of the Jordanian Statistics of Public Security shows more than 1103 cyber-crimes were committed in the Kingdom until the end of November 2011 (Statement of the Jordanian Minister of Communications and Information Technology, 2012). According to statistics of the Criminal Investigation Department in the Jordanian Public Security the number of cyber crimes since the beginning of the year 2012 reached 47 cases, 17 cases of impersonation and e-defamation, and 12 cases e-threatens, two cases of the electronic financial frauds, and 16 e-mail theftcases. In 2011, the cyber-crimes are classified as 427 cases of impersonation and e-defamations, 350 cases of threats and defamation, and 21 issues of e-financial fraud, 40 cases of e-mail thefts, 3 cases of electronic data and internet servers of thefts, and two cases of child abuse on the internet (Almany, 2012).One decade ago, there has been an actual focus within the Jordanian criminal justice system on computer- enabled offences. The first law in Jordan to investigate and prosecute cyber-crimes and computer- related crimes is Electronic Transactions Act No (85), 2001, which use to deal with these type crimes by indirect way, and the focus of law is about the electronic transactions from commercial and civil prospective rather than criminal. In 2010, the Information Systems Crimes No (30) law (thereafter ISC Act, 2010) was done as an amendment to the Electronic Transactions Act No (85), 2001. Even though this law is a pioneering law to the field of cyber crimes it does not provide adequate relief. The ISC Act No (30) of 2010, despite the shortages and defects that it has, still represents a dramatic shiftin the legal system of Jordan.This paper deals with cyber crimes and its challenges in the criminal justice system of Jordan, the legislation in Jordan dealing with crimes in cyberspace and computer-enabled offences, as well as other crimes committed by the use of electronic devices. The Information Systems Crimes Act No (30) of 2010 has been dealt in detail with an analysis of its strengths and weakness. The analysis of the effectiveness of the Jordanian Information System Crimes Act, 2010 and the legal mechanism for compacting cyber offences in Jordan is based on data that are gathered through published annual Reports, Articles published in books, journals and newspapers etc. In addition, electronic articles, books and materials posted on Internet websites are consulted.The importance of present paper emanates from the reality of that the applied laws on cyber issues within the legal system of Jordan can not be deemed as a foundation for investigating and prosecuting cyber-crimes. In Jordan, judges, prosecutors, lawyers and law enforcements are in dilemma because the insufficient and vague cyber-legislations, the traditional legal provisions contained in Punishment Code, 1960 and Criminal Procedural Code, 1961 are incompatible to deal with cyber crimes and they need to be revised and amended. Additionally, the ISC Act, 2010 suffers lot from legal and linguistic defects, less coverage of cyber-crimes, formula problems, and absence of the procedural rules, therefore its provisions have to revised and updated by the parliament, as well as there is a need produce it as a permanent law.Information System Crimes Law No (30) of 2010: Salient FeaturesThe ISC Act, 2010 has been adopted by the government of Jordan as interim law in order to fill up the lacunae in the Electronic Transactions Act No (85), 2001. The ET Act, 2001 suffered from lot of defects, especially in the filed of criminalization and punishment of criminal cyber activities. The focus of this law was on e-commerce and no provisions were designed for computer related offences, and the enactment of ISC Act, 2010 was as necessary as it attuned to the Jordanian needs (Nafi& Amawi, 2002). …