Organization of crime investigation using modern technologies

Gritsaev Sergei Ivanovich PhD in Law Associate Professor, Department of Criminology, Kuban State Agrarian University named after I.T. Trubilin 350044, Russia, Krasnodar Territory, Krasnodar, Kalinina str., 13 grizaevserg@mail.ru Other publications by this author     Stepanenko Sergei Grigor'evich PhD in History Senior Lecturer, Department of Sociology, Management and Human Resources, Kuban State Technological University 350072, Russia, Krasnodarskii krai, g. Krsnodar, ul. Moskovskaya, 2 stepik71@mail.ru

Shevel' Dmitrii Vladimirovich Senior Lecturer, Department of Criminology, Federal State Budgetary Educational Institution of Higher Education "Kuban State Agrarian University named after I.T. Trubilin 350044, Russia, Krasnodarskii krai, g. Krasnodar, ul. Kalinina, 13 shevel626@gmail.com

The development of information and communication technologies at the beginning of the XXI century is characterized by new illegal manifestations in the electronic and digital sphere or with its use. At the same time, there is a growing trend of criminalization of a number of acts in the emerging information society.

Today, illegal actions committed and/or posted on the Internet of a cross-border nature (including its Russian-speaking segment) are of great concern, which, in turn, poses a certain difficulty in identifying the perpetrators and conducting a preliminary investigation of criminal cases ^[1]. There is also an increase in the number of content containing false information (fakes) about the conduct of a special operation of the armed forces of the Russian Federation in Ukraine. And the violence committed by Ukrainian servicemen against civilians and prisoners of war is often accompanied by photos and videos that are uploaded in encrypted form to file-sharing sites, and links to them are given in closed chats and websites. Attention has been repeatedly drawn to the danger of social networks and the negative consequences of their use by minors ^[2]. This can include the restriction of contacts in real life, and a decrease in social skills, which lead to deformation of the construction of an individual picture of reality ^[3]. Modern information and communication technologies are characterized by a decentralized structure and cross-border nature, and the use of anonymizer programs, the Darknet network and others like them by attackers greatly complicates the identification of both the owner of the information and the persons who committed illegal acts.

Nevertheless, the more the attacker is confident in his anonymity and impunity, the more material he provides for the investigation of evidence of his criminal activity. Currently, there are no effective technical solutions that would allow to find the owners of sites and distributors of criminal content, as well as persons committing crimes on the network, but it should be noted that such work is being carried out ^[4]. Significant efforts are being made in this direction by both the state and society, in particular, the created and successfully operating website "League of Safe Internet", where any individual can report dangerous content. On February 1, 2021, Federal Law No. 530-FZ of December 30, 2020 "On Amendments to the Federal Law "On Information, Information Technologies and Information Protection" entered into force, which obliges social networks to independently identify and block prohibited content. The refusal of website owners, including social networks and video hosting sites, to delete illegal information is subject to penalties (Federal Law No. 511-FZ of 30.12.2020 "On Amendments to the Code of Administrative Offences of the Russian Federation").

However, the "neutralization" of dangerous content is only an obstacle in its distribution. The next and main task should be the investigation of the crime and the search for persons involved in its commission. Such programs should be able to work in the field of mass consumer content. As for the Deep Web, Dark Web, they are ineffective here, since file sharing is mainly used, and photo and video materials are archived, protected with a password. A secure network with its onion routing system attracts a lot of users today and is considered a stronghold of anonymity, which allows us to talk about an actually formed and actively functioning ecosystem that promotes the spread of fakes, the sale of drugs, weapons, databases and other illegal information.

Federal Law No. 276-FZ of 29.07.2017 "On Amendments to the Federal Law "On Information, Information Technologies and Information Protection" only partially formed restrictions on the use of anonymizers that allow hiding data about the user, his location and data about his software and hardware. But, as practice shows, the problem of distributing prohibited content on the Darknet network has not yet been solved, since it allows hiding information about sites and users using the Tor network ^[5]. It seems to us that such a network is malicious (destructive) in fact, which allows us to talk about a new concept – "potentially criminogenic information technology", which poses a direct threat to the security of both society and the state, and other persons. Although "foreign partners" declare that they "promote human rights and freedoms – create and distribute technologies to ensure anonymity and privacy with open source, support their unlimited availability, promote their scientific and popular understanding," in fact, this means the destruction of moral and moral foundations, mental health, and sometimes life first of all, the younger generation.

According to the experts of the Safe Internet League, about 43 million Russians are members of destructive social media communities (cyberbullying, suicide propaganda, drug sales, extremist and terrorist communities, groups about serial killers and maniacs, shock content, trash streams), of which about 8 million are children ^[6].

The steps taken to counteract the spread of illegal content, the identification of persons involved in such crimes, as well as the identification of victims, currently do not sufficiently contribute to neutralizing the current criminogenic situation. The identification, investigation and exposure of those responsible for their commission is one of the most important functions of law enforcement agencies.

To solve these problems, it is necessary to make efforts to improve legislation and introduce modern information and telecommunication technologies, as well as to develop new methods of investigating these crimes. Intensive development of innovation activity generates new technical solutions that have novelty and a number of specific features. The material for the study of such crimes can be the Federal Criminal Information Bank, which is proposed to be supplemented with search records "images of persons captured on photo and video files containing illegal content", which will be replenished in the process of identifying illegal content in information and telecommunications networks.

The automated facial recognition system used in modern Russia is essentially an artificial intelligence capable of independently learning, collecting and analyzing large amounts of data using ultra-precise neural networks that do not require expensive equipment and are easily integrated into existing processes. Currently, there is a large growth in the Russian market of software and hardware for biometric identification, one of the directions of which is the facial recognition system ^[7]. The leaders of this direction are the companies NtechLab, the MDG Group of Companies, Vocord, JSC "PAPILON", etc. These technologies are already being used in major Russian cities.

For example, NtechLab has created a FindFace Security product that allows analyzing the video stream based on face recognition, i.e. the technology detects faces in the video stream in real time, checks with monitoring lists and sends notifications when matches are detected ^[8].

The Papilon facial image identification system, operating in real time, can recognize people in a stream in a fraction of a second with a minimum error not exceeding 1% ^[9].

Based on such technologies, it becomes possible to search in real time for persons captured in photo and video files containing illegal content.

In such cases, one of the effective methods of investigation and disclosure of crimes committed on the web may be an automated identification system based on images or videos of a person from among illegal content based on automatic identification (confirmation) of identity in real time, in combination with "surfing" social networks and other content, as well as created or already used databases.

The mechanism for further actions to organize the investigation of these crimes is seen by us in the following procedures. If the system has identified (confirmed) a person from illegal content, then on this basis it is advisable to automatically file a criminal complaint. This provision is not provided for by law and will require appropriate changes. Thus, at the moment, another algorithm of action is possible: an authorized person (operator) can send the material to the territorial operational unit of the internal affairs body, where a specific operative will make a report on the detection of signs of a crime. In accordance with articles 140 and 143 of the Criminal Procedure Code of the Russian Federation, the above is the basis for conducting investigative, verification, organizational and preparatory, procedural and other actions carried out when checking a report on a committed or impending crime before making a decision to initiate a criminal case, as well as operational investigative measures.

Thus, the creation of search records of "images of persons captured on photo and video files containing illegal content" in the Federal Criminal Information Bank, as well as the use of modern digital facial recognition technologies, can significantly increase the effectiveness of detecting, disclosing and investigating crimes committed on the Internet. The use of achievements in the field of digital identification and other innovations in the field of IT technologies in the investigation of crimes can increase the effectiveness of identifying the perpetrators of these crimes.