Defenses to Cyber Crime Allegations

Traditional notions of due process, legal defense, and fairness apply to cyber crimes just as they apply to any other notion of more traditional criminal allegations. Throughout your readings this week you have learned that there are two fertile areas for a defense to a cyber crime allegation: factual and legal. A factual defense can easily be summed up by the inimitable legal scholar, Mr. Bart Simpson, of the long-running animated television series, The Simpsons. Bart routinely asserts the factual defenses to allegations of wrong doing as, “I didn’t do it; nobody saw me do it; there’s no way they can prove anything.” These are all valid and somewhat comprehensive definitions of a factual defense. A legal defense, on the other hand, deals with the government’s inability to overcome a defense based on the law in areas such as jurisdiction, vagueness of the law(s), double jeopardy, statutes of limitation, etc.

Include the following elements in your 400 word initial post:

• Define and examine both factual and legal defenses to cybercrime allegations.
  Your examination should include at least one scholarly source beyond this week’s required readings.
• Explain which of these two types of defense is the most likely to prevail in the greatest number of cyber crime cases and provide a rationale for your choice.
• Evaluate ways in which future laws can limit defenses to cyber crime allegations.