Jurisdictional Issues

1

• Jurisdictional Issues
• And other Special Problemsin Enforcing and
  Prosecuting

PRESENTED BY Debra Littlejohn Shinder,
MCSE DallasConConference on Cyberterrorism2002
2
Who am IAnd why should you listen to me?

• Former police officer/sergeant
• Police academy instructor
• Board member, EFC CJAB
• Network security consultant
• IT Trainer
• Microsoft Certified Systems Engineer
• Author
• Computer Networking Essentials
• Configuring ISA Server 2000
• MCSE/ICSA/CCNA Study Guides
• Scene of the Cybercrime Computer Forensics
• Hundreds of articles, whitepapers, etc.

3
What are we going to talk about today?

• Defining jurisdiction
• Types of jurisdictional authority
• Overlapping jurisdictions
• Why jurisdiction is an important issue in
  cybercrime enforcement
• Case law pertaining to jurisdiction
• Practical issues pertaining to multi-jurisdictiona
  l prosecution
• Your questions/my answers

4
Where are those annoying handouts?
Scene of the Cybercrime Website www.sceneofthec
ybercrime.com/jurisdiction EMAIL ME
AT dshinder_at_tacteam.net deb_at_shinder.net
5
Defining Jurisdiction
Scope of authority to enforce laws or pronounce
legal judgments

• Jurisdiction of law enforcement agencies
• Jurisdiction of courts

6
Types of Jurisdictional Authority

• Legal system
• Case type
• Offense grade
• Monetary damages
• Government level
• Geographic area

7
Level of Jurisdiction

• Local (city or county)
• State
• Federal
• International

8
Overlapping Jurisdictional Levels

• Can a person be charged for the same act by both
  the state and federal governments?

YES
9
Geographic Jurisdiction

• Its all about location
• Location of what?
• The victim?
• The perpetrator?
• Where the crime is committed!

10
The Problem with Cyberspace

• Where is it?
• Not a physical place.
• Criminal and victim are often miles apart
• Criminal may never set foot in state or country
  in which the harm occurs

11
The Cyberspace Culture

• Should the Internet be a free zone of no laws?
• Are existing laws already sufficient?
• Should we have cybercops whose jurisdiction is
  the Internet?
• Hard to enforce across national boundaries
• By whom would they be employed?

12
Texas Law as to Jurisdiction

• (a) This state has jurisdiction over an offense
  that a person commits by his own conduct or the
  conduct of another for which he is criminally
  responsible if
•      (1) either the conduct or a result that is
  an element of the offense occurs inside this
  state
•      (2) the conduct outside this state
  constitutes an attempt to commit an offense
  inside this state
•      (3) the conduct outside this state
  constitutes a conspiracy to commit an offense
  inside this state, and an act in furtherance of
  the conspiracy occurs inside this state or
•      (4) the conduct inside this state
  constitutes an attempt, solicitation, or
  conspiracy to commit, or establishes criminal
  responsibility for the commission of, an offense
  in another jurisdiction that is also an offense
  under the laws of this state.
• TX Penal Code Sec. 1.04,
  Territorial Jurisdiction

13
Case Lawpertaining to jurisdiction

• Tennessee v. Robert Carleen Thomas

Long arm of the law approximately 2000 miles
14
On the other hand

• May 2000 French court ordered U.S. based Yahoo
  to ban Nazi items on U.S. site
• November 2000 threatened fines of 13,000/day
• December 2000 Yahoo filed for declaration that
  U.S. cant enforce French order.
• November 2001 U.S. District Court declared this
  would violate Yahoos constitutional rights.
• February 2002 French court says it will try
  Yahoo for condoning war crimes

Its not over yet!!
15
CyberLaw Resources
Cyberlaw Informer http//cyberlawinformer.com Fin
dLaw Cyberspace Law Newshttp//news.findlaw.com/l
egalnews/scitech/cyber Supreme Court
Decisions http//www.fedworld.gov/supcourthttp//
www.supremecourtus.gov
16
Practical MattersWhy Agencies Choose not to
Prosecute

• Cost of travel to investigate
• Witnesses/records are far away, difficult to
  bring in
• Suspect may not be extradictable
• Political Factors citizens want police to
  address local crime first
• Lack of technical understanding and expertise
  within the department

17
Cybercrime Training Resources
International Association of Chiefs of
Police www.theiacp.org National Cybercrime
Training Partnership www.nctp.org Computer Crime
and Intellectual Property Section(CCIPS) www.cyb
ercrime.gov Local Training Resources
18
Books

• Cybercrime Security and Surveillance in the
  Electronic Ageby Tom Douglas (editor)
• Computer Crime Investigation by Eoghan Casey
  (editor)
• Incident Response Investigating Computer
  Crimeby Chris Prosise, Kevin Mandia

19
Scene of the Cybercrimeby Debra Littlejohn
Shinder

• Defining and Categorizing Cybercrime
• A Brief History of the Rise of Cybercrime
• Understanding the People on the Scene of the
  Cybercrime
• Understanding Computer and Networking Basics
• Understanding Network Intrusions and Attacks
• Understanding Cybercrime Prevention
• Implementing System Security
• Implementing Cybercrime Detection Techniques
• Collecting and Preserving Digital Evidence
• Understanding Laws Pertaining to Computer Crimes
• Building and Prosecuting the Cybercrime Case
• Training the Cybercrime Fighters of the Future