الجرائم المعلوماتية : خصائصها و كيفية مواجهتها قانونيا

الملخص EN

The twentieth century has witnessed a tremendous development in the field of communication.

Internet became one of the twentieth century wonders that spread throughout the globe and connected people.

It became a mean of daily interaction between members of different classes and societies.

Due to the contrast in the mental and scientific levels of the users of the Internet, illegal practices have emerged.

Internet has become a tool for committing such practices or a place for them, according to the situation.

This has led to the emergence of a new type of trans-border crimes that are different from other conventional crimes.

These crimes are called cybercrimes, or electronic crimes or internet crimes.

The rapid pace of the technological and technical progress and the emergence of the cyberspace, in addition to the modern means of communication such as fax, Internet and other forms of electronic communication via satellite, all these factors led to their exploitation by cybercriminals in committing their crimes.

As they are no longer confined to the territory of one State, but affected many states.

These crimes are both innovative and original.

They represent a form of criminal intelligence that has been difficult to be included in traditional criminal descriptions in national and foreign criminal laws.

In view of the weakness of the procedural prosecution regulations that appear to be limited to absorb this new criminal phenomenon, both in terms of criminal prosecution under national laws or within international criminal prosecution.

This weakness necessitates the development of the national criminal legislative structure accompanied by a similar legislative intelligence where precision at the legal level and other aspects and dimensions of such new techniques is reflected.

This will ensure, in all cases, the respect for the principle of legality of crimes and penalties on one hand, and the principle of procedural legality on the other hand, in addition to the need of complementarity in the role and objective with international treaties.

Starting from the recognition of the importance of regulating the electronic transactions, the Council of ministers of the kingdom of Saudi Arabia approved on March 26, 2007 the two anti-cybercrimes and Electronic Transactions laws.

This will serve to limit the number of cybercrimes and will help to identify crimes targeted by regulations and estimated penalties for each crime or violation, and will assist to determine the competent authority to follow up and apply the penalties.

The importance of discussing the necessity of the international cooperation to combat cybercrimes in theory and practice is considered one of the topics that directly touches many of the interests of members of society and countries, in particular banks through electronic transactions and balances withdrawal via magnetic card or electronic payment.

In addition to individuals through registration and other areas where the use of computer is involved.

Electronic crime has also been used by terrorist organizations to threaten the economic and security interests of countries.

Therefore, the perfect manner for the international cooperation should be defined for the purpose of the international criminal prosecution and the need to uncover practical difficulties in applying traditional and stable ideas to criminal law as the principle of legality and the applicability of the law in terms of time, place and national judiciary specialization.

The study adopted the descriptive analytical methodology.

This methodology is based on identifying the characteristics of the phenomenon of cybercrimes, describing their nature and the relationship between their variables, causes, local and international trends, and other aspects revolving around exploring the problem in accordance with the Saudi anti-cyber crime law and what is stated in it.

The study also highlighted the opinions and positions of jurists on the seriousness of the challenges of electronic crime and the need of the international community for optimal cooperation to combat it, in addition to the consequent legal obligations, especially with the spread of the phenomenon of international terrorism.

Based on the above, the research plan consisted of three themes.

The first theme was devoted to the concept of cybercrimes.

The second theme dealt with the legal nature of cybercrimes and their characteristics.

While the third theme discussed the international ways to combat cybercrimes.