A survey of international cooperation in digital investigations

Abstract

International cooperation is becoming more important in digital investigations. This work provides a comprehensive study about Mutual Legal Assistance in relation to digital evidence. A survey of available information related to making a Mutual Legal Assistance Request is given, followed by a quantitative analysis of practitioner survey results related to making and receiving Mutual Legal Assistance Requests. The given survey is a first effort to provide data behind the challenges identified by practitioners when attempting to request Mutual Legal Assistance related to digital evidence. From this data, some justification for commonly cited challenges are found, as well as the circumstances in which these challenges arise.