Specifics of using the Internet in the investigation of extremist crimes

A fairly large number of criminal acts can be attributed to crimes of an extremist nature, but not all of them can be committed via the Internet. This type of crime has a number of characteristic features that must be established at the initial and subsequent stages of the investigation: 1) the situation in which the crimes were committed, including place and time. A feature of the place is the possibility of committing a crime by a person located anywhere in the world where there is Internet access. The specifics of time include the fact that a crime can be committed for a long time – from the moment extremist information is posted on the network until it is blocked; 2) the methods of committing the considered category of crimes, the features of which are the placement of information containing elements of an extremist nature (texts, pictures, posts, songs, etc.), as well as great opportunities for concealing the crime. In addition to encrypting files, it is possible to quickly delete them from information carriers. Given these circumstances, the priority is the immediate recording of information with an extremist orientation contained in electronic media, and the identification of the persons who posted it. At the same time the key points in the investigation should be the examination of the Internet resource with the obligatory indication of the email address, name, information about feedback, contacts, as well as the appointment of computer and linguistic expertise.

Keywords: extremist activity; inspection; Internet; means; deleted files; hiding information