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The number of cyber law cases around the world is fast increasing with advancing cyber technology.

Cyber technology has been such a huge asset to business, science, education, healthcare, and virtually any discipline imaginable, including cyber crimes.

Sadly, the huge majority of cyber offenders run away with their crimes due to the absence of legal provisions that regulate the abuse of technology. Cyber law cases are still expected to rise because as long as there is shortage of cyber laws to address such cases, cyber criminals will continue to cause damage to people worldwide.

Due to its almost limitless potential, the Internet is well suited for those people or groups who have plans of escaping the laws of cyber space.

Cyber crimes have been taking place since the early 1970s and many cyber law cases have already been filed in courts in many different countries around the world. While a few cyber criminals have been found guilty, a large number of offenders have been acquitted.

In the United States, victims of cyber offenses are given the chance to effortlessly report Internet-related crimes to the authorities via the Internet Crime Complaint Center or IC3 for short.

A task force that is built by three institutions, namely the Federal Bureau of Investigation (FBI), the Bureau of Justice Assistance (BJA), and the National White Collar Crime Center (NW3C), the IC3 has the primary objective of lowering the number of crimes by creating leads and reporting to law enforcement agencies at the earliest opportunity.

The IC3 already recorded the second greatest number of computer-related complaints since its commencement.

The top three common cyber complaints were non-delivery of payments and merchandise, scams pretending to be the FBI, and identity thefts. Other typical complaints include miscellaneous fraud, advance fee fraud, spam, auction fraud, credit card fraud, and overpayment fraud. Cybercrime victims suffered millions of dollars in losses because of these.

Nearly all people are building their lives around wired and wireless networks – mostly unaware of the risks associated with using computers and computer systems. As of today, there is no comprehensive law against computer-related crimes in the United States or anywhere else in the world.

In the meantime, all that Internet users can do is to be more careful when using technology while cyber law cases are still predicted to flourish in the next several years.

What Is Cyber Law – An Overview

The Internet, which came into existence in 1969 as an outgrowth of the ARPANET, has truly taken the world by storm.

Today, almost all things are achievable because of the Internet – from social networking to online shopping.

During the past couple of years, however, activities done over the Internet became controversial due to security and legality issues. This is the reason why lawmakers around the world are coming up with cyber laws that put limitations to Internet misuse and abuse.

But just what precisely is cyber law and what are some good examples of it?

Cyber law is any kind of law that is enforced to regulate the Internet and other online communication technologies and protect people from being abused because of these tools. Basically, cyber laws have the primary objective of safeguarding the integrity and security of information, privacy and confidentiality of information, legal status of online transactions, intellectual property rights, and security of government data.

Some of the first cyber laws to be implemented include Malaysia’s The Computer Crimes Act of 1997, Communications and Multimedia Act of 1997, Telemedicine Act of 1997, and Digital Signature Act of 1997.

The rising acceptance for the Internet has also made more and more people questioning, “What is cyber law and why is it important?”

Cyber law also pertains to any law that is designed to safeguard human rights when it comes to using the Internet. The absence of law can result in cyber crimes of all sorts such as copyright infringement, illegal copying and distribution of software, violation of privacy, domain name dispute, computer hacking, credit card fraud, cyber bullying, cyber terrorism, cyber stalking, and many others. And because the Internet is readily accessible for everyone, it is just but essentially vital to have rules and policies that can help reduce the occurrence of cyber crimes.

The Internet gives many advantages to man. However, legal challenges also arise because the Cyberspace is not only confined to any single legal category. It influences all aspects of law such as criminal law, tort, contracts and the legal concepts of identity, property, and expression.

The Internet, without question, needs to be governed because if not, this almost infinite dimension can pose a threat to individuals, businesses, and just about everything that makes use of it.

Why The Need For International Cyber Law

Cyber crime, computer crime, electronic crime, E-crime, and hi-tech crime all pertain to the same thing – an offense wherein the computer is the target of the crime or is the instrument used to commit a crime.

These crimes have been happening since the invention of the Internet back in 1969 and since then, computer criminals have discovered more innovative ways to carry out illegal activities such as theft, fraud, forgery, and many others.

The urgency to have an international cyber law is now felt by many countries.

Sooner or later, all countries will have their own cyber laws because of the improved trends in the commission of cybercrime. Note though that cyber laws are different from national laws. While most national laws govern territorial acts, cyber laws regulate acts that travel beyond the national territory. Because cyber criminals are not bound to location limitations, most of them feel comfortable at victimizing just about anyone, including businesses and governments.

Today’s generation honestly requires an international cyber law.

Most people are familiar to the fact that computers can support significant amounts of data in very small places. The Internet, on the other hand, can transmit these data to any person faster than most things in the world. With that said, online theft may be committed in the United States using computers located in Malaysia by a resident of India.

Because cyber crimes are “international” in nature, they require a global approach.

The Convention on Cybercrime, also called the Budapest Convention on Cybercrime, is the very first intercontinental treaty hoping to find a solution to the growing problem of cybercrimes by improving national laws, creating acceptable practices for search and investigation, and enhancing cooperation among nations.

In 2001, the Council of Europe, the United States, Canada, South Africa, and Japan signed a treaty in efforts to improve the international cooperation in fighting computer-related crimes. This treaty is of great importance because national cyber laws are useless without international cooperation.

As of the present time, there is still no universally acknowledged “international cyber law” despite the “global” nature of cyber offenses.

It’s extremely vital for all countries to really dig into these issues because otherwise, cyber criminals will simply escape the law and go on with their illegal activities.