Extradition

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The ability to bring a computer criminal to justice is often as difficult as finding the hacker in the first place. Many jurisdictions are involved and extradition from one jurisdiction to another can be difficult, especially across national boundaries, since extradition is based on treaties between countries. This requires a certain level of cooperation between countries and their law enforcement organizations. In addition, the computer crime laws vary dramatically between countries ; what is criminal in one country may not be elsewhere.

Authorities in Argentina arrested Julio Cesar Ardita, better known as "El Griton," in the computer underground . He was accused of systematic and major unauthorized intrusions into systems at a number of major U.S. universities, the U.S. Navy, NASA, and also computer systems in Brazil, Chile, Korea, Mexico, and Taiwan. Government officials in Argentina seized his computer and modem in January. Despite close cooperation between authorities in Argentina and the U.S., the man was released without charge because Argentina has no law criminalizing unauthorized intrusion in computer systems. In addition, because of the requirement for "dual criminality" in international law, it was not possible for Argentinian authorities to extradite Ardita to the United States (the requirement states that an action must be defined as criminal in both countries before a person can be extradited). ^[79]

^[79] "Argentine Computer Hacker Agrees to Waive Extradition and Returns to Plead Guilty to Felony Charges in Boston," U.S. Department of Justice Press Release, 19 May 1998.

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