Report available: [288 KB pdf format]
News Release
Canadian Cyber Crime Laws Are
Among the Strongest
But Self Protection Remains Principal Defense
for Global Companies
The ability of the Canadian government to prosecute cyber criminals
with certainty is much stronger than stated in a recent report,
according to McConnell International LLC, a global policy and technology
management consulting firm. The revised assessment shows that Canadian
law effectively covers the major categories of cyber crime.
"Canada is a leader in the international fight against cyber crime,
and the uncertainty of its legal remedies against cyber criminals
was overstated in our earlier report," said Bruce McConnell, the
firm's president. "After technical discussions with the Canadian
Department of Justice, we have revised the report. Cyber criminals
should beware of attacking computers in Canada."
"Cyber crime is a growing global dilemma, and we hope that more
countries will follow Canada's lead by updating their laws to ensure
criminals are not getting ahead of law enforcement in this battle,"
said Harris N. Miller, President of the World Information Technology
and Services Alliance (WITSA), a sponsor of the report.
The revised report shows that Canada has updated its statutory
laws to cover seven of the ten types of crimes: data interception,
data modification, data theft, network interference, network sabotage,
unauthorized access, and virus dissemination. For computer-related
fraud, cases have been prosecuted successfully using terrestrial
laws, effectively updating the laws in those categories. In addition,
Canadian officials have strong confidence that existing laws provide
sufficient coverage against the remaining two categories, aiding
and abetting cyber crimes and computer-related forgery. The revised
report ranks Canada among the top countries that have fully or substantially
updated their laws, along with Australia, Estonia, India, Japan,
Mauritius, Peru, Philippines, Turkey, and United States.
The report, Cyber
Crime . . . and Punishment? Archaic Laws Threaten Global Information,
released on 7 December 2000, analyzed the following countries: Albania,
Australia, Brazil, Bulgaria, Burundi, Canada, Chile, China, Cuba,
Czech Republic, Denmark, Dominican Republic, Egypt, Estonia, Ethiopia,
Fiji, France, Gambia, Hungary, Iceland, India, Iran, Italy, Japan,
Jordan, Kazakhstan, Latvia, Lebanon, Lesotho, Malaysia, Malta, Mauritius,
Moldova, Morocco, New Zealand, Nicaragua, Nigeria, Norway, Peru,
Philippines, Poland, Romania, South Africa, Spain, Sudan, Turkey,
United Kingdom, United States, Vietnam, Yugoslavia, Zambia, and
Zimbabwe to determine whether their laws had been updated to cover
the ten types of cyber crimes.
"The report's underlying conclusions, that most countries have
not updated their laws, and that companies should rely on self-protection
as their first defense against cyber crimes, remain," McConnell
said. "Only if other countries follow the examples of the leaders
will the world become a safe place for the conduct of e-government
and e-business."
McConnell International positions its corporate and government
clients to take maximum advantage of the new economy by providing
strategic advice, building partnerships, opening doors, creating
international visibility, and research, analysis, and project design.
It has a world-class track record solving tough international technology
management problems for large organizations and is a recognized
expert on the global e-business climate. Copies of existing and
draft national cyber crime laws, along with the report itself, are
available at www.mcconnellinternational.com.
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Copyright 2000 All rights reserved, McConnell International, LLC.
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