ABUSE OF PERSONAL DATA AS A COMPUTER CRIME IN THE REPUBLIC OF NORTH MACEDONIA

Abstract

Abuse of personal data is a crime systematized in Chapter 15 of Criminal Offenses against the Freedoms and Rights of Man and Citizen in Article 149 paragraph 2, 3, 4 and 5 where it is provided that this crime can also be committed by breaking into computer system of personal data with the intention of abusing them for personal benefit or the benefit of someone else and achieving some benefit or inflicting damage, contrary to the conditions stipulated by the Law on the Protection of Personal Data. The legislator also foresees responsibility for the officials who committed the crime within the performance of the service, and responsibility is provided if the crime was committed in an attempt and criminal responsibility for the legal entities. According to the means and method of execution, this crime has the characteristics of a computer crime and has its own criminalistic characteristics that are significant in the process of discovery, illumination and provision of evidence, in the case of electronic evidence, on the basis of which criminal proceedings are initiated against the perpetrators. The paper will analyze the criminal characteristics of the Abuse of personal data as a computer crime, where its criminal characteristics (manner, time, place and means of execution) will be analyzed, as well as the personal and status characteristics of the perpetrators and of course the motives for execution. Normative, statistical, comparative and case analysis methods will be applied. Based on the knowledge obtained, conclusions will be drawn for preventive action and awareness raising among citizens for the protection of their personal data, as well as a contribution to the suppression of this crime.