디지털정보의 압수·수색에 관한 개선방안

Abstract

In today's advanced digital age, all the contents of our lives are being 'recorded' on smartphones. As a result, smartphone data becomes important information to understand an individual's life, and all criminal investigations primarily investigate digital information on smartphones to secure evidence. The Criminal Procedure Act previously limited objects to be searched and seized to secure evidence, but the Criminal Procedure Act was amended in 2011 to stipulate the search and seizure regulations for digital information, as well as the Protection of Communications Secrets Act and the Telecommunications Business Act. As the digitalization of society progresses rapidly, the world is strengthening cyber cooperation. In particular, the European Cybercrime Convention enacted in 2001 in relation to cybercrime allows judicial authorities to request data submission from other countries. Korea has not yet acceded to this treaty. The European Convention on Cybercrime is the first international treaty that stipulates the types and punishments of Internet crimes. Through this, it is possible to establish a hotline for joint countermeasures against cybercrime among member countries, and submission and preservation orders are being promoted. In Korea, the law on search and seizure of digital information continues to evolve, but it still needs improvement. Therefore, in this paper, the current status of search and seizure of digital information is summarized and legal improvement measures are considered. In order to provide a clear legal basis for the specific confiscation procedure of digital information, it is a principle to selectively output and submit copies of information in accordance with the provisions of the Criminal Procedure Act regarding the subject of seizure and search of electronic information, but as an exception, confiscation of information storage media is allowed improvement measures are needed. Our lives are at the center of the digital environment. Since all digital records are being recorded on smartphones and the evidence of digital information will continue to increase, a legal evidence collection process is needed in this regard. The reason why seizure and search are regulated by law is that compulsory disposition can violate the fundamental rights of the subject. Therefore, rather than a policy that only considers the efficiency of seizure and search, a balanced development that considers the rights of the accused and the securing of evidence for truth-finding is needed.