Cyber-enabled crimes are on the increase, and law enforcement has had to expand many of their detecting activities into the digital domain. As such, the field of digital forensics has become far more sophisticated over the years and is now able to uncover even more evidence that can be used to support prosecution of cyber criminals in a court of law. Governments, too, have embraced the ability to track suspicious individuals in the online world. Forensics investigators are driven to gather data exhaustively, being under pressure to provide law enforcement with sufficient evidence to secure a conviction. Yet, there are concerns about the ethics and justice of untrammeled investigations on a number of levels. On an organizational level, unconstrained investigations could interfere with, and damage, the organization’s right to control the disclosure of their intellectual capital. On an individual level, those being investigated could easily have their legal privacy rights violated by forensics investigations. On a societal level, there might be a sense of injustice at the perceived inequality of current practice in this domain. This paper argues the need for a practical, ethically-grounded approach to digital forensic investigations, one that acknowledges and respects the privacy rights of individuals and the intellectual capital disclosure rights of organisations, as well as acknowledging the needs of law enforcement. We derive a set of ethical guidelines, then map these onto a forensics investigation framework. We subjected the framework to expert review in two stages, refining the framework after each stage. We conclude by proposing the refined ethically-grounded digital forensics investigation framework. Our treatise is primarily UK based, but the concepts presented here have international relevance and applicability. In this paper, the lens of justice theory is used to explore the tension that exists between the needs of digital forensic investigations into cybercrimes on the one hand, and, on the other, individuals’ rights to privacy and organizations’ rights to control intellectual capital disclosure. The investigation revealed a potential inequality between the practices of digital forensics investigators and the rights of other stakeholders. That being so, the need for a more ethically-informed approach to digital forensics investigations, as a remedy, is highlighted, and a framework proposed to provide this. Our proposed ethically-informed framework for guiding digital forensics investigations suggest a way of re-establishing the equality of the stakeholders in this arena, and ensuring that the potential for a sense of injustice is reduced. Justice theory is used to highlight the difficulties in squaring the circle between the rights and expectations of all stakeholders in the digital forensics arena. The outcome is the forensics investigation guideline, PRECEpt: Privacy-Respecting EthiCal framEwork, which provides the basis for a re-aligning of the balance between the requirements and expectations of digital forensic investigators on the one hand, and individual and organizational expectations and rights, on the other.

中文翻译：

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前言：道德数字取证调查的框架

网络犯罪不断增加，执法部门不得不将其许多侦查活动扩展到数字领域。这样，多年来，数字取证领域变得更加复杂，现在能够发现更多证据，可用于支持法院起诉网络罪犯。各国政府也已经接受了跟踪在线世界中可疑人员的功能。法医调查人员被迫详尽地收集数据，承受着向执法人员提供足够证据以确保定罪的压力。但是，人们对在许多层面上不受限制的调查的道德和正义表示关切。在组织层面上，不受约束的调查可能会干扰并损害 组织控制其知识资本披露的权利。在个人层面上，被调查者很容易因法医调查而侵犯其合法隐私权。从社会的角度看，在这一领域中当前实践的不平等感可能会产生不公正的感觉。本文认为，有必要采用一种实用的，基于道德的方法进行数字取证调查，这种方法应承认并尊重个人的隐私权和组织的知识资本公开权，并承认执法的需求。我们得出了一套道德准则，然后将它们映射到法医调查框架上。我们分两个阶段对框架进行了专家评审，然后在每个阶段进行完善。最后，我们提出了基于道德的完善的数字取证调查框架。我们的论文主要基于英国，但此处介绍的概念具有国际相关性和适用性。在本文中，正义之镜理论被用来探索一方面对网络犯罪进行数字法医调查的需求与另一方面对个人隐私权和组织控制智力资本的权利之间存在的张力。披露。调查显示，数字取证调查员的做法与其他利益相关者的权利之间存在潜在的不平等。既然如此，就强调了对数字取证调查采取更符合道德规范的方法的必要性，并为此提出了一个框架。我们提出的指导数字取证调查的符合道德规范的框架提出了一种在此领域重建利益相关者平等的方式，并确保减少了产生不公正感的可能性。正义理论被用来强调在数字取证领域中，在所有利益相关者的权利和期望之间建立界限的困难。结果是取证调查指南“预防：尊重隐私的道德框架”，一方面为重新调整数字取证调查员的要求和期望与个人和组织的期望与权利之间的平衡提供了基础，在另一。并确保减少产生不公正感的可能性。正义理论被用来强调在数字取证领域中，在所有利益相关者的权利和期望之间建立界限的困难。结果是取证调查指南“预防：尊重隐私的道德框架”，一方面为重新调整数字取证调查员的要求和期望与个人和组织的期望与权利之间的平衡提供了基础，在另一。并确保减少产生不公正感的可能性。正义理论被用来强调在数字取证领域中，在所有利益相关者的权利和期望之间建立界限的困难。结果是取证调查指南“预防：尊重隐私的道德框架”，一方面为重新调整数字取证调查员的要求和期望与个人和组织的期望与权利之间的平衡提供了基础，在另一。