CHAPTER ONE: CONNECTIVITY AND CYBERCRIME CHAPTER ONE: CONNECTIVITY AND CYBERCRIME This Chapter examines the effect of the global connectivity revolution on cybercrime and identifies cybercrime as a growing contemporary challenge driven by a range of underlying socio-economic factors. It considers definitions of cybercrime and finds that while certain definitions are required for ‘core’ cybercrime acts, the aggregate concept is not well suited as a legal term of art. 1.1 The global connectivity revolution Key results:  In 2011, more than one third of the world’s total population had access to the internet  Over 60 per cent of all internet users are in developing countries, with 45 per cent of all internet users below the age of 25 years  It is estimated that mobile broadband subscriptions will approach 70 per cent of the world’s total population by 2017  The number of networked devices (the ‘internet of things’) are estimated to outnumber people by six to one, transforming current conceptions of the internet  In the future hyper-connected society, it is hard to imagine a ‘computer crime’, and perhaps any crime, that does not involve electronic evidence linked with internet protocol (IP) connectivity In 2011, at least 2.3 billion people – equivalent to more than one third of the world’s total population – had access to the internet. Developed countries enjoy higher levels of internet access (70 per cent) than developing countries (24 per cent). However, the absolute number of internet users in developing countries already far outnumbers that in developed countries. Some 62 per cent of all internet users were in developing countries in 2011. In both developed and developing countries, more younger people are online than older people. Some 45 per cent of the world’s internet users are below the age of 25 1