The Importance of the Computer Undercover Agent as an Investigative Measure Against Cybercrime: A Special Reference to Child Pornography Crimes

The Internet is a scenario in which a wide range of criminal activities can be carried out and, in addition, it is a medium in which it is very difficult to identify the people who commit crimes using the Internet and new technologies: cybercriminals. Many of them take refuge in the network to carry out practices that harm minors. We are referring to a typical online crime: the production, possession, and exchange of child pornography. In this context, the undercover computer agent becomes important, as it represents a specific measure of technological investigation in the criminal process aimed at identifying these people. This figure is presented as appropriate for the investigation of these crimes related to the sexual exploitation of minors, being able to act as a kind of spy on the network that, using false identities, can impersonate pedophiles to exchange illegal files with child pornography. The aim is therefore to determine whether this exchange during Internet-related investigations will be sufficient to identify suspected pedophiles and thus put an end to this type of practice, which represents a major social scourge.