Using the Internet, criminals can perpetrate such crimes as theft, identity fraud, terrorism, pornography, pedophilia, stalking, contraband purchases, information warfare, virus writing, gambling, hate crimes, counterfeiting, bank fraud, espionage, and many more. In response, the Federal Bureau of Investigation and the Department of Justice have established the Internet Fraud Complaint Center to combat the growing problem of fraud occurring over the Internet and to provide a vehicle for victims around the country to report incidents of fraud on-line. At the international level, nations in the Group of 8 (United States, Great Britain, Canada, France, Germany, Italy, Japan, and Russia) have drawn up an action plan to deal with cybercriminals. Meanwhile, the 41-nation Council of Europe is drafting a treaty to standardize cybercrime laws throughout the world. In the United States, increasing attention is being directed at cybercrime by local, county, State, and Federal police agencies. Several medium and larger police agencies have created new cybercrime or Internet crime investigation sections. Local and regional task forces also focus on computer crime. In addition, several national and international organizations provide assistance to police agencies involved in working cybercrime cases and in computer crime prevention. The history of the emergence of the Internet is briefly reviewed, and future developments in investigating and preventing computer crimes are considered. 4 photographs