Deliverable 6.13 Policy Paper on Ethical Framework for Cybercrime Investigations – with a special focus on AI-facilitated investigations

The focus of this Deliverable D6.13 is to shed light on some of the most relevant ethics frameworks related to Cybercrime investigations, where Law Enforcement Agencies utilize AI-based investigation tools. This policy paper does not provide an exhaustive overview but puts the focus on ethics frameworks that have been analysed and discussed as part of the ongoing work of the CYCLOPES project. It does – aside from the draft AI Act - especially not elaborate upon the existing legal frameworks. Despite harmonization approaches (such as through the Council of Europe Convention on Cybercrime) Cybercrime, investigations are largely regulated by differing national legal standards. Although such legal standards do partly codify ethics standards, they are not covered by this policy paper. The overview highlights, that the recommendations from the High-Level Expert Group on Artificial Intelligence that were published in 2019 were actually only the start of an on-going process of developing a robust ethics framework for AI, that does impact the work of law enforcement agencies. The 2022 Accountability Principles for AI (AP4AI) and the draft AI Act are examples for important building blocks related to the ethics framework. CYCLOPES will continue to follow the developments and engage in an exchange with the law enforcement community to discuss the community’s perspective if the framework is sufficient or requires adjustments.