Modern Issues in Cyber Forensics and Digital Intelligence: A Critical, Case-Studies-Based Overview in Light of the Announced Legislative Reforms

While both international and European law-makers are currently in the process of introducing new laws re-gulating the fight against cybercrime and the exchange of digital evidence amongst competent authorities,this paper elaborates on a series of investigative challenges deriving from the application of current cyber-crime norms in a number of jurisdictions, unveiling a tension between the current legal system and its in-terpretation by the law enforcement and judicial community. This study analyzes the research undertakenon the legal and regulatory uncertainties observed in the Italian framework, as well as in other Europeanand non-European jurisdictions, by ways of comparative analysis. The main international legal instrumenton cybercrime is the Council of Europe’s Convention on Cybercrime (‘Cybercrime Convention’), signed in2001 and then ratified by almost 60 countries worldwide over the last 17 years. Aimed at raising awarenessto national and international policy and law makers, this paper intends to critically demonstrate how theimplementation of such a treaty into domestic laws has not always been smooth. It often presents interpre-tative issues, which add up to the growing difficulties for both law enforcement and judicial bodies to copewith the challenges arising by countering new and innovative forms of criminal activities in the cyberspace.