The South African legislative response to cybercrime
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Date
2021
Authors
Journal Title
Journal ISSN
Volume Title
Publisher
University of the Western Cape
Abstract
As the world moves into a hyper-connected global society with near universal access to the
internet, cybercrime has become a global challenge.
The problems embedded in the issue of cybercrime are at least twofold. Firstly, the
proliferation of cybercrime globally, and more specifically in South Africa, is outstripping the
pace at which governments and lawmakers are able to respond efficiently. Secondly, where
governments do manage to respond, there is a temptation to do so on the basis of a
superficial understanding of the essence of cybercrime.
There are many debates about the novelty of cybercrime in which participants have
described it as “old wine in new skin”. This study takes the position that cybercrime is
neither completely novel nor is it merely a virtual manifestation of the ordinary terrestrial
crimes. The premise of this research is that cybercrime is an interesting and unique form of
criminality that manifests itself in a number of challenging ways. These manifestations need
to be considered independently and comprehensively if effective countermeasures are to be
devised. This is not to say that every single offence has to be considered critically. That
would be impracticable. It would suffice that certain types of cybercrimes be classified
differently from other types, so as not to paint all with the same brush.
Description
Doctor Educationis
Keywords
Artificial Intelligence, Availability, Capable Guardian, Confidentiality, Cybercrime