Cyber Crime and Legal Countermeasures: A Historical Analysis

Johannes Xingan Li

Tallinn University, Estonia

Abstract:

This article reviews the historical development of cyber crime and legal countermeasures. The article divides the process into four stages and concludes that cyber criminal phenomena have developed almost synchronously with Information and Communication Technology (ICT). Cyber crimes are in a process of accelerating development and are becoming gradually routinized. Notably, the electronic divide thus results in cyber crime divide. The basic conclusion is that criminal resources decide the amount of crime, while judicial resources decide the deterrence. When the balance is reached between criminal resources and judicial resources in the long term, the criminal phenomena will be saturated at an equilibrium point.

Keyword:

Cyber crime, History, Deterrence, Legislation, Law enforcement, Criminal justice, Social control.