Reno Proposes Global Anti-Cybercrime Network

Mr. T writes "According to this story, Janet Reno has proposed the formation of LawNet, a global network to fight computer crime. One major issue would involve overcoming jurisdictional questions - where do you prosecute?" Personally, I wish the government would spend less time trying to crack down on miscreants and more time educating the public. Prevention starts at the end-user, Janet!

Comments

Utterly pointless exercise

[arivanov]

At first there are things that are considered computer crime in one country and are not in another. A typical example is reverse engineering which is treated differently in almost any country. There is no single rule of thumb about it.

Also, even for things that are considered to be crime everywhere, there is no real definition of computer crime usable for prosecution. If you cut out financial crime, copyright violation, p0rn, prostitution, etc there is only cracking and hacking left.
These:
1. Are not subject to prosecution in many countries as a computer related offence (they are quite often handled as petty crime, destruction of property, etc).
2. Even in countries with explicit computer related laws the same case may be treated very differently.

So this utterly pointless exercise has:

1. Very small scope
2. Very small common ground and common interest to start with.

Its only common interest may be the attempt to gain cheap political divididends...