‘computer-related drug trafficking’; ‘computer-related extortion’; ‘trafficking in passwords’; and ‘access to classified information.’ 110 In all of these cases, respondents said that the act was covered by cyber-specific legislation – indicating the centrality of the use of computer systems or data to The internet and illicit drug sales the act. In some of these cases, the act may be considered as a specialized form or variation of one of the cybercrime acts already listed. Use or possession of computer-related tools for financial offences, for example, may be covered by the broad act of computer-related fraud or forgery. 111 Access to classified information may be a subset of illegal access to computer data in general. Trafficking in passwords is covered by some computer misuse tool 112 provisions. Since the mid-1990s, the internet has increasingly been used by drug traffickers to sell illicit drugs or the chemical precursors required to manufacture such drugs. At the same time, illegal internet pharmacies advertise illicit sales in prescription medicines, including substances under international control, to the general public. These substances are controlled under the three international drug control treaties and include opioid analgesics, central nervous system stimulants, tranquillizers and other psychoactive substances. Many pharmaceuticals offered for sale in this way are either diverted from the licit market or are counterfeit or fraudulent – constituting a danger to the health of consumers. The fact that illegal internet pharmacies conduct their operations from all regions of the world and are able to relocate their business easily when a website is closed down means that taking effective measures in this area is essential. In 2009, the International Narcotics Control Board (INCB) published ‘Guidelines for Governments on Preventing the Illegal Sale of Internationally Controlled Substances through the Internet.’ These Guidelines highlight the importance of: empowering appropriate authorities to investigate and take legal action against internet pharmacies and other websites, that are used in the illegal sale of internationally controlled substances; prohibiting shipment by mail of internationally controlled substances and ensuring that such shipments are intercepted; and establishing standards of good professional practice for the provision of pharmaceutical services via the internet. Other acts, such as computerrelated extortion, 113 raise the challenge of the inclusion (or non-inclusion) of offline crimes that have, to varying extents, migrated online – a point discussed briefly in the context of computer-related acts for personal or financial gain or harm. As noted by a number of responding countries, a general principle is frequently that ‘what is illegal offline, is also illegal online.’ 114 In many cases, criminal laws regulating offline conduct can also be applied to online versions of the same conduct. Thus, countries have, for example, interpreted existing conventional laws to cover computer-related extortion, 115 or the use of computer systems to facilitate trafficking in persons. 116 National legal practice in this respect is examined further in Chapter Four (Criminalization). One approach may be to include in a description of ‘cybercrime’ only those acts where the use of a computer system is strictly integral to fundamentally altering the scope or nature of the otherwise ‘offline’ act. 117 Drawing the line here is extremely challenging. Is it appropriate to argue, 110 111 112 113 114 115 116 117 Ibid. Some countries, for example, include the act of ‘possession of articles for use in frauds’ within fraud criminal offences. Computer passwords, access codes or similar data were not explicitly included in the act description for the item ‘Production, distribution or possession of computer misuse tools’ used in the Study questionnaire, leading some countries to identify this conduct as an additional act. In addition to use of computer systems to communicate extortion-related threats, computer-related extortion can be associated with unauthorized interference with computer systems or data, such as demands for money linked to DDoS attacks. Study cybercrime questionnaire. Q39. See, for example, Landgericht Düsseldorf, Germany. 3 KLs 1/11, 22 March 2011, in which the accused was convicted of extortion and computer sabotage against online betting sites through the hired services of a botnet. UN.GIFT, 2008. The Vienna Forum to fight Human Trafficking. Background Paper for 017 Workshop: Technology and Human Trafficking. Available at: http://www.unodc.org/documents/human-trafficking/2008/BP017TechnologyandHumanTrafficking.pdf The UNODC trafficking in persons database also includes a number of cases involving the use of placement of online advertisements, https://www.unodc.org/cld/index.jspx For further information, please see also https://www.unodc.org/unodc/en/human-trafficking/what-is-human-trafficking.html?ref=menuside This may be applied, for instance, in terms of sexual abuse of children, when images created by offenders ‘offline’ are subsequently 20