الدليل الجنائي الرقمي في تقنية الميتافيرس

Abstract

This study addresses digital forensic evidence in the metaverse technology.
The importance of this study is evident in the light of the legislative vacuum that exists in response to all forms of violations occurring in the metaverse world. There is no doubt that the current criminal laws are ineffective in addressing successive technological developments unless supplemented by existing criminal statutes.
The research aims to shed light on the metaverse technology, its dimensions, characteristics and risks of its use. It also intends to examine the potential criminal patterns that can emerge in metaverse technology and explore strategies to address them, including methods for collecting digital evidence within the metaverse technology.
The research yielded a set of results, the most notable of which include the lack of legal texts regulating the use of this technology and addressing the new forms of cybercrimes committed through it. Additionally, it highlighted the inability of existing legal texts to effectively address these issues, along with difficulties related to collecting evidence from metaverse crimes. This challenge arises due to the unique nature of these crimes and the substantial volume of data generated by the use of this technology. Gathering evidence encompasses multiple domains, such as the user’s scope, service providers, and the metaverse platform itself. Furthermore, there are challenges in presenting this evidence before traditional courts, given its three-dimensional nature.
The success of law enforcement agencies in collecting digital evidence related to metaverse crimes depends on the extent of the cooperation of private companies from service providers and operators of the Metaverse platform. This cooperation is crucial to ensure that investigators have access to the necessary data required to complete their investigations.
The research concluded that there is a need for international cooperation to amend existing international conventions on cybercrime, with leadership from the Budapest Convention (the European Convention for Combating Cybercrime). Alternatively, there is an aspiration to develop a new international convention that regulates the responsibilities of metaverse service providers, obliging them to cooperate in combating crimes, monitoring infringements and violations, exchanging evidence and information related to such cases, and defining applicable laws and the criteria for their enforcement.