The aim of this book is to delve into the impact of the Information and Communications Technologies in the criminal prevention and investigation, by addressing the state of the art of different measures and its implementation in different legal systems vis à vis the protection of human rights. Yet this research not only pursues a diagnostic goal but furthermore aims at providing a reconstruction of this problematic area in light of modern, human rights-oriented notion of criminal justice. This broadens the scope of this investigation, which encompasses both unprecedented safeguards to traditional, or anyway widely recognized individual rights and the emergence of new rights, such as the right to informational self-determination, and the right to information technology privacy.
The book addresses the problems and potentials in the areas of criminal prevention and criminal investigation, taking into account that due to electronic surveillance and the progress in the use of big data for identifying risks, the borders between preventive and investigative e-measures is not clear-cut.

Lorena Bachmaier Winter is Full Professor at the Complutense University in Madrid, Department of procedure and criminal law since 1996. She has written extensively in the area of litigation, fair trial rights, justice systems and procedure published in more than seven languages. She is regular speaker in international conferences. She is a member of the most relevant international academic associations, as AIDP, the IACL or the European Law Institute, and member of the editorial board of numerous law reviews. She has been visiting professor or researcher in foreign institutes and universities as, for example, the Max-Planck-Institute for Foreign and International Criminal Law, Freiburg Institute for Advanced Studies (FRIAS) or the Universities of Berkeley, Harvard and Stanford (USA). Her present research is focused on comparative criminal procedure, rule of law and judicial independence, human rights and procedure, and the EU process of legal harmonization. Her last book published with Springer within this collection was "The European Public Prosecutor. The challenges ahead", 2018.She also works regularly as an international legal expert for the Council of Europe and other international organizations in legal reforms in Eastern European countries and also in Central and was chair of the committee on Transnational Organized Crime of the Council of Europe in 2013-2014. Since 2022 she is member of the Expert Group on Criminal Policy of the European Union Commission.
Stefano Ruggeri is doctor juris at SantAnna School of Advanced Studies of Pisa. Currently, he is Full Professor at the Law Department of Messina University, holding the chair of Italian, European and Transnational Criminal Justice. He is member of the editorial and advisory boards of various national and international journals (La Legislazione penale, Revista brasileira de direito processual penal, Revista de la Asociación de Profesores deDerecho Procesal de las Universidades Españolas), as well as the editorial board of the Book Series Procedura penale (Giappichelli) and Editor in Chief of the Book Series Legal Studies in International, Comparative and European Criminal Law (Springer International Publishing). He is was awarded a Humboldt-Fellowship for experienced researchers, carrying out his researches at the Max-Planck Institute of Foreign and International Criminal Law (Freiburg i.Br.). His main research areas encompass, inter alia, general theory of law, evidence law, transnational criminal justice, comparative criminal law, and European criminal justice.

Preface: The Digital Revolution and Human Rights Challenges.- Part I Crime Control and Criminal Inquiries in a Digitalised World. New Frontiers.- Criminal Investigation, Technological Development, and Digital Tools: Where are We Heading?.- Geolocation in Crime Detection and Prevention.- Big Data and Satellites: Between Safety of Airspace and Criminal Liability.- Facial Recognition for Preventive Purposes: The Human Rights Implications of Detecting Emotions in Public Spaces.- Part II ICT Tools and New Investigative Techniques.- The Use of Drones and the New Procedural Safeguards in Crime Control and Criminal Investigation.- Search and Seizure of Digital Evidence: Human Rights Concerns and New Safeguards.- Digital Privacy and Cyber-Interception of Communications. A new scenario needs new concept.- Part III Fact-Finding and Human Rights Challenges in the Digital Era.- AI-Powered Investigations: From Data Analysis to an Automated Approach toward Investigative Uncertainty.- Online Hearings and the Right to Effective Defence in Digitalised Trials.- The Digital Transition in Criminal Trials: New Promises, New Risks, New Challenges.