This event took place at the Information Law and Policy Centre at the Institute of Advanced Legal Studies on Monday, 26 June 2017.

Date:
26 June 2017
Time: 
17:00 to 19:00
Venue:
Institute of Advanced Legal Studies, 17 Russell Square, London WC1B 5DR
Book: Online on the SAS events website. (Event is free but registration is required.)

Cryptomarkets, Computer Hacking and Child Exploitation Material: Challenges of the New Transnational Cyber Policing

Speaker: Dr Monique Mann
Discussant: Professor Ian Walden

Description:

A seminar discussion by Dr Monique Mann, School of Justice, Faculty of Law,  Queensland University of Technology, Brisbane, Australia.

Cyberspace presents new opportunities for offending and new challenges for policing. Both the transnational nature of the internet and anonymising dark net infrastructure challenge conventional policing methods, prompting the introduction of enhanced investigatory and intelligence capabilities, such as Computer Network Operations (CNOs), to detect and investigate crimes with an online dimension. These new forms of online surveillance and policing transcend multiple legal jurisdictions, and test established procedures governing access to, and the admissibility of, online evidence.

This seminar will summarise three research projects concerning online policing to highlight a range of emerging challenges and issues.

First, a discussion of the dismantling of the Silk Road crypto market will be used to demonstrate how US conspiracy law drives transnational cyber investigations and how these processes reflect ideological conceptions of justice and due process to legitimise US extraterritorial surveillance and access to digital evidence.

Second, an analysis of high profile cases of computer hackers who have been sought for extradition by the US from the UK are presented. These reveal important legal and human rights considerations where the alleged unlawful conduct occurred exclusively online and concurrent jurisdiction applies at both at the source and location of harm.

Finally, the Playpen clandestine network used for the distribution of child exploitation material is considered as these cases offer crucial insights into new and emerging developments such as recent amendments to US Criminal Procedure that authorise extraterritorial governmental hacking.

The seminar will conclude with a discussion of the implications for future criminological research, online policing and transnational criminal law and justice reform. This includes recognition of the importance of the shifting legal geographies associated with strategies for accessing digital evidence and due process safeguards in extraterritorial online criminal investigations.

A wine reception will follow our discussion.

Speaker Details:

Dr Monique Mann is a lecturer at the School of Justice, Faculty of Law, at the Queensland University of Technology in Brisbane, Australia. She is also a member of the Crime and Justice Research Centre and the Intellectual Property and Innovation Law Research Group at QUT Law.

Professor Ian Walden is Professor of Information and Communications Law and head of the Institute of Computer and Communications Law (ICCL) in the Centre for Commercial Law Studies, Queen Mary University of London.