Aramesh Shahbazi
Technology has always been a problem for legal systems. Indeed, while law and technology are two distinct areas for discussion, both are interwoven and no discussion is complete without recognizing the other. In the context of legal profession though new technology presents exciting opportunities for legal advancements, it also presents a lot of uncertainty and vagueness in authorized acts and omissions especially in the field of criminology. In this case, the cyber space could be considered as a safe environment for criminals to commit criminal acts by utilizing the network security gaps and abusing available ambiguities due to the lack of enforceable forces and some inefficient binding force. Nowadays, the significant growth of cyber criminals through hacking the data, influencing the computer networks, espying the cyber space and even terrorist acts are considered as a serious threat for to the states in their national and international affairs. However, given the serious differences between the two legal systems of national law and international law in terms of structure, subjects and the objects, and also in conclusion of the systematic development of national law to international law, one can believe in dichotomy of these two legal systems in criminalization and combating the crimes at national and international levels. The most important question of this article is that what is the impact of the technological developments on commission of the crimes in cyberspace in national law and at international level? To provide a concrete answer, I will just focus on Iran’s legal system and compare the international legal system with Iran’s legal system in criminalization, responding and applying the punishments for the cybercrimes. The hypothesis to answer the main question of this article is that due to many differences between Iran’s legal system and international law, and while technological developments could facilitate committing the crimes in cyberspace, proper policy-making and appropriate co-operation among states in international law and appropriate law-making in Iran could overcome the threats of cyber crimes. Therefore, in this article, by a comparative method, I will examine two different legal systems in criminalization and applying criminal responsibility to criminals and then I reach the conclusion that a long way to an idealistic confrontation of cybercrimes has remained.