ABSTRACT:
There is comparatively little specific legislative provision in New Zealand relating to cyber-crimes. The general approach has been to amend general criminal provisions where necessary for the accommodation of the specific issues presented by cyber-crimes, but not to treat these as being inherently different to crimes committed through more traditional media.
Just as the legislative provisions do not generally treat cyber-crimes as sui generis so there is not a generic enforcement agency charged with the detection of cyber-crime and the prosecution of cyber-criminals. For similar reasons there are few specific provisions with respect to cyber-crime jurisdiction.
The New Zealand Police (the sole uniformed police agency in the country), the Department of Internal Affairs (which has, inter alia, general responsibility for the censorship and classification of books and films ) and the New Zealand Customs Service (which is responsible for the enforcement of importation controls) are the three main agencies involved in electronic crime detection and investigation in New Zealand. In very general terms, Internal Affairs focuses on action against Internet offending, the Police deal with physical offending and Customs with importation. Nearly a dozen other Government agencies also deal with computer-related offences. In most instances they enforce a combination of general criminal laws, and the comparatively few specific electronic or cyber-laws.
