be considered ‘cybercrime’ is supported by preliminary work on the development of a framework for an international classification of crimes for statistical purposes. Work by the Conference of European Statisticians notes that acts of ‘cybercrime’ could be recorded, for statistical purposes, by the use of an ‘attribute tag’ that would indicate the ‘computer-facilitation’ of a particular act within a (full) crime classification system. Such a ‘tag’ could apply, in principle, to computer-facilitated acts falling anywhere within the larger crime classification system – whether acts against the person, acts against property, or acts against public order or authority.97 A challenge concerning ‘computer-related’ cybercrime acts is that the category risks being expanded to include a broad range of otherwise ‘offline’ crimes, when committed with the use or help of a computer system. The question of whether this type of act should be considered ‘cybercrime’ remains somewhat open. While some international or regional instruments are limited to a comparatively few number of computer-related offences, others are expansive. The Council of Europe Cybercrime Convention, for example, covers (from this category) computer-related forgery and computer-related fraud alone.98 In contrast, the League of Arab States Model Law contains criminal provisions on the use of a computer system for forgery, threats, blackmail, appropriating moveable property or a deed through fraudulent use of a name, unlawfully obtaining the numbers or particulars of a credit card, unlawfully benefiting from communication services, establishing an (internet) site with the intention of trafficking in human beings, narcotic drugs or psychotropic substances, and transferring illicit funds or disguising their illicit origin.99 Another act that may fit into this category – and, in contrast to those acts previously discussed, is exclusively cyber-related – is the sending and controlling of the sending of spam.100 While the sending of spam is prohibited by all internet service providers, it is not universally criminalized by countries. Chapter Four (Criminalization) examines this area further. Computer content-related acts The final category of cybercrime acts concerns computer content – the words, images, sounds and representations transmitted or stored by computer systems, including the internet. The material offence object in content-related offences is often a person, an identifiable group of persons, or a widely held value or belief. In the same way as the second category, these acts could in principle be committed ‘offline’, as well as through the use of computer systems. Nonetheless, many international and regional cybercrime instruments include specific provisions on computer content.101 One argument for the inclusion of content-related acts within the term ‘cybercrime’ is that computer systems, including the internet, have fundamentally altered the scope and reach of dissemination of information.102 97 98 99 100 101 102 See United Nations Economic Commission for Europe, Conference of European Statisticians. Principles and Framework for an International Classification of Crimes for Statistical Purposes. ECE/CES/BUR/2011/NOV/8/Add.1. 11 October 2011. Council of Europe Cybercrime Convention, Arts. 7 and 8. League of Arab States Model Law, Articles 4, 9-12, and 17-19. Sending or controlling sending of spam refers to acts involving the use of a computer system to send out messages to a large number of recipients without authorization or request. See Annex One (Act descriptions). See Council of Europe Cybercrime Convention, Art. 9; League of Arab States Convention, Art. 12 et seq.; and ITU/CARICOM/ CTU Model Legislative Texts, Section II, among others. Marcus, R.L., 2008. The impact of computers on the legal profession: Evolution or revolution? Northwestern University Law Review, 102(4):1827-1868. 18