Official: We need cybercrime laws

 By JOHN ZAUYA

THE country needs appropriate legislation and funding to effectively deal with cybercrime, an official says.

National Information Communication Technology Authority (NICTA) legal services manager Ian Mileng said: “With crimes committed using information communication technology as a medium, there is no tangible element as in traditional crimes such as murder where an accused can be prosecuted based on the elements involved in committing the crime.”

He said it was tougher to prosecute crimes committed through the use of ICT because it was not tangible and there was no legal framework in place to prosecute offenders.

It follows the arrest of a local man who was caught stalking, luring and posting indecent materials of women without their consent, preying on their lack of knowledge of ICT to threaten and harass them.

The man then told the women to have sex with him, pay him money or marry him if they wanted the indecent materials on them removed from the social network sites.

He was caught when a man, whose wife nearly fell victim to the stalker, tracked him down on the internet and alerted police who arrested him.

He is awaiting his court appearance.

Mileng said an ad hoc group was formed in March 2012 to look at formulating appropriate legislation on cybercrime.

The group was made up of officials from the National Intelligence Organisation, Attorney-General’s office, Public Prosecutor office, NICTA, Law Reform Commission and a private lawyer.

He said the group had limited funding and members had been working on a voluntary basis. 

Mileng said because of this, work on a legal framework would take some time.