Old wine, opaque bottles? Assessing the role of Internet intermediaries in the detection of cybercrime

While the means of production may have shifted to email and phone messaging, the basic nature of the fraud remains substantively unchanged, as well as its monetary motivations. Interpersonal conflicts and hostilities have also migrated online with ease. This chapter returns to the 'wine bottles' theme articulated by Grabosky by considering not whether the bottles in which cybercrime is delivered are old or new, but how transparent, or rather opaque, they are, and what degree of law enforcement and security agency access is reasonable and proportionate in safeguarding the public from harm. The focus is on Internet Service Providers (ISPs) as these are a particularly visible form of data gatekeeper, subject to significant regulatory control through legislation. The chapter also focuses is also on online child sexual exploitation crimes, as these provide a critical testing ground for competing claims about rights to online privacy and the rights of vulnerable persons to be protected from harm.