The role of Internet intermediaries in combatting cybercrime: Organisation and liabilities

Abstract

Even though the internet is a very useful asset to everyday life, it can facilitate crime as it can be
used to achieve unlawful goals. Stepping up against cybercrime effectively requires extensive
international cooperation between law enforcement agencies and the private sector, and between
the law enforcement agencies themselves. Internet intermediary service providers such as ISPs,
hosting providers and search engine providers are in a special position when it comes to tackling
cybercrime: they have to balance carefully between protecting the rights of their users (such as the
right to privacy or free speech) and exercising corporate responsibility to prevent and respond to
cybercrimes. These providers are sometimes indispensable participants of a successful
investigation, because they are the entities that are in a position to provide data to law enforcement
agencies and carry out blocking orders. One of the aims of this paper is to give a short overview of
those voluntary and obligatory actions that the providers take in order to support the investigative
process in Hungary. Besides these actions that stem from the social responsibility and legally
enacted obligations, the providers may also be held liable for the actions of third parties (although
they may be exempted if certain conditions are met). The second aim of this paper is to analyze the
twofold nature of the position of intermediary service providers and to map the arising conflicts
between their liability and their role as participants of cybercrime investigations.