Digital Forensics and Cyber Crime. 4th International Conference, ICDF2C 2012, Lafayette, IN, USA, October 25-26, 2012, Revised Selected Papers

Research Article

When Should Virtual Cybercrime Be Brought under the Scope of the Criminal Law?

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  • @INPROCEEDINGS{10.1007/978-3-642-39891-9_8,
        author={Litska Strikwerda},
        title={When Should Virtual Cybercrime Be Brought under the Scope of the Criminal Law?},
        proceedings={Digital Forensics and Cyber Crime. 4th International Conference, ICDF2C 2012, Lafayette, IN, USA, October 25-26, 2012, Revised Selected Papers},
        proceedings_a={ICDF2C},
        year={2013},
        month={10},
        keywords={virtual (cyber-)crime legal ontology institutional facts harm principle offense principle legal paternalism legal moralism},
        doi={10.1007/978-3-642-39891-9_8}
    }
    
  • Litska Strikwerda
    Year: 2013
    When Should Virtual Cybercrime Be Brought under the Scope of the Criminal Law?
    ICDF2C
    Springer
    DOI: 10.1007/978-3-642-39891-9_8
Litska Strikwerda1,*
  • 1: University of Twente
*Contact email: L.Strikwerda@utwente.nl

Abstract

This paper is about the question when virtual cybercrime should be brought under the scope of the criminal law. By virtual cybercrime I mean crime that involves a specific aspect of computers or computer networks: virtuality. Examples of virtual cybercrime are: virtual child pornography, theft of virtual items and the killing of an avatar (a virtual person). Drawing from philosophical ontology and legal philosophy I will establish what the necessary and sufficient conditions are for virtual cybercrime to obtain in order to count as crime under criminal law. I will also examine when virtual cybercrime meets these criteria.