Defining and Registering Criminal Offences and Measures - Oapen

G. Computer Offences
1. First steps and development of draft definitions and
questions
The increasing availability of computers has opened new opportunities for offending.
In most countries (i.e. those following the continental tradition), fraud, theft
and damages are defined in a material way that does, by essence, not cover eventual
offences committed against more abstract “goods” such as computer programs.
In these countries, fraud typically covered the deception of human beings
only, but not the “deception” of technical devices such as computer programs.
Therefore, continental countries had to fill eventual gaps in their criminal law by
creating new sections specifically criminalizing violations of the confidentiality,
integrity and availability of computer data and systems (unauthorized entry into
electronic systems, i.e. computers, or unauthorized use or manipulation of electronic
systems, data or software). The aim of the project was to identify the way
EU countries have dealt with this challenge and to assess the availability of any
data collected on such offences, either at the police, the prosecutorial or the conviction
stage.
The introduction of a draft definition for fraud also made it necessary to differentiate
between fraud and “computer fraud”, i.e. “deception” of a computer rather
than of a human being. Also, the Sourcebook group felt that it would be