A Prospect for Greater Cooperation in the Fight against Cybercrime

Canadian federal law enforcement has partnered with law enforcement agencies in the United Kingdom, the United States and Australia to form a permanent global taskforce on cybercrime. Initially, the so-called Virtual Global Taskforce will focus on developing tactics to deter paedophiles from engaging in child sexual abuse online, but will gradually expand into other areas. The lack of geographic or jurisdictional boundaries on the Internet means that effective cybercrime investigations and prosecutions will almost always involve several law enforcement agencies, often in multiple jurisdictions. In 2002, a national needs assessment in the US on cybercrime investigations identified as one of the chief problems facing police on the Internet the lack of cooperation between law enforcement agencies in different jurisdictions. The Virtual Global Taskforce seeks to increase cooperation between agencies through information-sharing and joint initiatives. The current partners in the taskforce include the UK National Crime Squad, the FBI and US Immigration and Customs Enforcement, the Australian Federal Police, Interpol and the RCMP. Visit the Virtual Global Taskforce Web site at: http://www.virtualglobaltaskforce.net. For further background, see the report of the Institute for Security Technology Studies at Dartmouth College entitled Law Enforcement Tools and Technologies for Investigating Cyber Attacks: A National Needs Assessment, June 2002 at: http://www.securitymanagement.com/library/cybercrime_tech0902.pdf. Summary by: Jason Young