public in one state or another, and also a range of specific public sector functions. Many
developed countries rely heavily on networks for the payment of taxes, maintenance of
voting registries, and the maintenance of public-sector identity infrastructures, and these are
vulnerable both to the direct effects of cybercrime and the indirect effects and loss of
confidence that can be generated by the fear of cybercrime, whether it originates at home or
from another state.
1.44 At the level of the Commonwealth and other intergovernmental processes or bodies,
the interests of these states are generally to develop sophisticated capacities for the
prevention and control of cybercrime and to co-operate internationally to make them as
available as possible. In addition to protecting domestic information infrastructure, this is
sometimes also seen as a development goal, both to directly address the so-called ‘digital
divide’, and indirectly in the sense that information infrastructure is increasingly used as a
means of delivering other forms of sustainable development.
Practical implications for developing Commonwealth countries in general
1.45 In general developing countries are seeking assistance in responding to the
challenges of cybercrime, both as an element of broader high-technology strategies and to
fill specific gaps or assessed needs. Upgrading a country’s national information
infrastructure will usually entail some consideration of how to incorporate crime prevention
elements, for example, and the same country’s legislative or law enforcement institutions
may be seeking specific assistance to extend existing criminal law to cybercrime and ensure
that new provisions can be adequately enforced and investigated. Unlike some other
elements of sustainable development strategies, high-technology elements are usually both
a means to the end of development and a development goal in their own right, because the
technologies themselves represent a means of delivering development assistance in key
areas such as education, commerce, health care, and effective and efficient communications
between governments and their populations.
1.46 In general “Internet penetration”, or the number of Internet computers per capita, in
developing countries is lower than in developed countries, whereas the situation with other
communications devices such as mobile telephones is quite different and may in some
countries be the reverse. Mobile or cell phones have become common in the developing
world because the infrastructure is much cheaper and more easily constructed, and this has
often allowed these countries and their populations to circumvent obstacles to development.
1.47 Whether or not these differences affect overall levels of cybercrime, they do affect
specific crime patterns and the way individual countries perceive and respond to the threat of
cybercrime. In developed countries, the focus tends to be more on offences such as fraud
and identity-related crimes that target individual victims, whereas developing countries may
be more likely to perceive and experience cybercrime as a threat to collective and social
interests and to development itself. Countries with smaller economies may also regard it as
a more serious threat in proportional terms: a major fraud that represented only a large
economic loss in a developed country might threaten the viability or credibility of the financial
infrastructure of a developing country.
1.48 It is important to note that each country represents a unique case. The assessment
of development levels is complex, and the degree of development in general economic and
social terms and in terms of specific areas related to information and communications
technologies are to some degree independent of one another and may differ from country to
country. Individual countries also base policy not only on their assessment of the status quo,
but of strategic positions and aspirations. That said, the goal of bridging the ‘digital divide’
between developed and developing countries has been a central objective of the United
20