Complicity in Cyberspace: Applying Doctrines of Accessorial Liability to Online Groups

Abstract

Telecommunications technologies have changed not only the ways in which crimes are committed but also the ways in which offenders interact in committing them. The truism of “action at a distance” exemplified by online crime, whereby offenders and victims need not be located in the same place or even the same country, also holds for relationships between co-offenders. Online criminal groups can operate effectively without their members ever meeting in person, being able to recognize each other by sight, or knowing each other’s real names.