Cybercrime law en route to RA

تتلقى الشرطة والمدّعون تدريباً على الجرائم السيبرانية

The Council of Ministers today approved a draft law that aims to transpose the European cybercrime law of February 2005 into Portuguese legislation and adapt Portuguese legislation to the Council of Europe’s Convention on Cybercrime.

In practice, the new legislation will replace the current law on computer crime, reinforcing the powers of the authorities in combating this type of crime and incorporating new types of crime. For example, the production and dissemination of viruses and other malicious programs is now considered a crime, activities that until now were not legally enshrined.

The authorities also have «new investigative measures and adapt and / or extend to the field of cybercrime measures already provided for in criminal procedural legislation, such as the interception of communications», explains a statement, where adds that these changes apply to situations where it is necessary to collect evidence in electronic form.

The proposal also defines the creation of a permanent operating contact point, in the Judiciary Police, which will have an «essential role in the scope of international cooperation, as well as in the extension of the rules of application within the scope of Portuguese criminal law». the Government guarantees that the proposal preserves the necessary guarantees «in terms of rights, freedoms and guarantees and the protection of personal data.

It is recalled that the transposition of the criminality law into the legal order of several European countries, namely Germany and the United Kingdom, was involved in controversy for the powers given to the police to investigate the «digital life» of possible suspects.

In the United Kingdom, the incorporation of European guidelines now allows remote entry into a PC by the authorities to no longer be previously authorized by a judge. Remote monitoring of this type of communications in that country continues to lack authorization, but it has become possible for it to be given by a police chief, which has raised a lot of criticism from privacy organizations.

Months earlier, Germany also took advantage of the revision of its legal framework in this matter to create a framework that allows spy on suspected terrorists through wiretapping, video surveillance in homes and programs installed, via the Internet, on their computers. The possibility of using Trojan programs in these monitoring actions is clearly mentioned in the law.

In the case of Germany, a court order is required to implement these measures, but this can be shortened in cases where the urgency justifies it.

The Proposed Law adapting Framework Decision No. 2005/222 / JHA of the Council, of 24 February 2005, will now have to be considered and voted on by the Assembly of the Republic.