A work that is at once scholarly and complete, and also well written and genuinely interesting, is a rare find, but Wasik has written just such a work. His book deals with the legal issues associated with computer crime and misuse. The topics covered include the nature of computer misuse; the scale of the problem; unauthorized access and unauthorized use; fraud and information theft; associated offenses, such as destruction and damage, blackmail, and official secrets; detection, proof, and prosecution; and the international aspects of computer misuse, such as jurisdiction and international cooperation.

The choice of topics is not what makes this work unique; they are the standard fare for a serious work on this topic. Rather, the author provides a thorough coverage of the case and statutory law combined with thoughtful insights into the novel issues that computers pose for criminal law.

Wasik is British, and much of the coverage concerns British law; indeed, the four appendices all contain the text of Scottish or British statutes. Even so, the coverage of the law of the United States is extensive and surprisingly complete, although Wasik quotes from only a small number of US statutes. The problems of computer crime and misuse in the United Kingdom are, of course, similar to those encountered in the United States, and learning about the British experience is useful in gaining an international perspective on computer crime. Wasik even deals with material from Canada and Australia as well as from a number of European countries, including France and Germany.

The writing is compact yet highly readable, and the coverage is incredible for a book of some 200 pages, exclusive of appendices. Wasik’s research is awesome, and he documents his numerous sources in footnotes should the reader wish to delve further into some particular study, case, or news story. He also provides tables of statutes and cases.

This book can truly be said to be definitive as of the time it was written, but it will gradually become out of date due to the dynamic nature of the case and statutory law in this area. I hope Wasik will provide later editions. If I had to recommend a single work to acquaint anyone, lawyer and computer professional alike, with the field of computer crime, this book would be it.