This paper focuses on the consumer preferences for the so-called “smart homes” (also known as “smart houses”) which represent a novel addition and a product of the on-going digitalization and the deployment of the Internet of Things (IoT). The major scientific contribution of our study is the empirical model build on the data from the online questionnaire conducted with randomly selected respondents (N = 523) from four European Union (EU) countries and Russia. Even though our results are subject to limitations (no Southern of Northern European countries are included in the scope of this research, which might have yielded different results due to the differences in wealth of citizens and climate in comparison to the Central and Eastern European countries or Germany), they demonstrate that the users included in our sample generally feel inclined to the smart homes technologies and perceive them as a plausible means for improving the safety and security of their lives. On the other hand, some respondents from our sample expressed their concerns over the cybersecurity and technology dependence issues associated with smart homes. It is also apparent that younger respondents (aged 16–35) featured in our research are more worried about their personal data being monitored and analyzed (with a pending threat of leakages). All these results are original and constitute an important scientific value-added to the field of research in smart home technologies and their acceptance by the general public. We demonstrate that the further enhancement of smart homes, and the increase of their popularity and affordability among the customers both in the Central and Eastern European countries and beyond, might depend on the development of the smart grids which these smart homes are an integral part of. The reliability of the smart systems constitutes the key element for achieving the satisfaction of the smart homes residents, and hence needs to be achieved and secured in an effective way. This would ensure the right mix and balance of energy security and efficiency for all customers involved in this process.

The aim of the study is to clarify the concept of the digital footprint in jurisprudence and social sciences and determine its meaning for interdisciplinary research. The subject of this work is the analysis of the concepts of “digital footprint”, “digital reputation”, “digital image of a person”. The article notes that special machine techniques are required to process digital traces. The ways of storage, transmission and use of digital traces are considered. The research identified the main problems of using digital information in public relations. Digital traces can be used in various studies in the humanities, social sciences: sociology, law, economics, psychology using interdisciplinary research methods. The result of the study was the conclusion that digital information does not always mean a digital footprint. Digital information will have a digital footprint only when it is transferred from one user to another in an online environment, uploaded to a social network, etc. (in the case when it is possible to "trace" its movement). Thus, the "digital footprint" is the ability of information recorded in digital form, to leave special "marks" on the route from subscriber to subscriber, the ability to track such marks, receive information about its movement and transformation in order to collect, process and analyze these data.

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Recent growth of the information and communication technologies (ICT) created enormous opportunities for the economic and technical growth. However, they also opened the Pandora's box of cybercrime, stealing personal information and identity, spying on people's working and private lives as well as other related issues. Internet of Things (IoT) that combines a myriad of devices connected together for a two-way flow of information represents another important challenge, since it collects and stores zillions of personal data that can be abused by the third parties. Our paper analyses the recent developments of IoT in the light of data protection and tackling cybercrime. We show that since the concept is relatively young, very few legislative norms exist for its regulation and persecution of violators. It is also clear that new laws and rules should be introduced but the fragile balance between personal data protection and total "Big Brother-like" control from the law enforcement agencies and the governments should be carefully maintained and secured.

In practice, criminal intelligence as a form of control is often carried out without proper procedural arrangement. This issue is very urgent and problematic as, according to the criminal procedure code, evidence obtained when examining a crime scene in respect of procedural legislation violation often cannot be considered admissible. The paper considers the existing forms of gathering evidence and facts of a crime when investigating a crime scene; two of them – inspection and search – are procedural; one is a criminal intelligence action – premises, buildings, structures, terrain compartments, and vehicles examination. The authors carried out a comparative analysis of these forms and concluded on the gaps in the Russian criminal procedure legislation. The paper gives a brief overview of obtaining evidence when investigating crime scenes in the legislative acts of the former republics of the Soviet Union, in particular the Republics of Kazakhstan, Belarus, Estonia, and Azerbaijan. The authors considered the legislation on the operative search activity of foreign countries. The paper presents a comparative table reflecting the positive and negative aspects of the applicable legislation, the advantages and disadvantages of investigative activities and criminal intelligence under the study; studies the issues of entering the materials of operative search activity into the crime case file. As the basic conclusion, the authors highlight that by nature and inner content, the investigative activities under the study (a crime scene examination, a search) and criminal intelligence (premises, buildings, structures, terrain compartments, and vehicles; public and non-public examination) duplicate each other in some degree.

The article deals with the issues of legal regulation of the system of protection of rights to freedom of speech and information in the digital era. Given the recent changes in the economy and society due to the globalization and the rise of the information and communication technologies (ICT), the ways how opinions can be expressed and the information can be shared extrapolated considerably. However, the easiness of sharing information using the Internet and social networks should be overbalanced with the protection of the freedom of speech and information. The article analyzed domestic and international ways of protecting human rights on the protection of the right to freedom of speech and information in the Russian Federation and abroad.

The article discusses the need to use social networks in the cognitive activities of participants in the criminal process, and suggests that it is possible to use information obtained from social networks in the investigation of crimes. Two approaches are compared: expert and automated. The authors offer tools for data collection and analyzing personal data from social networks.

Our paper discusses the leading features of the formation and functioning of a criminal group when committing crimes with the help of electronic payment systems. Currently, there is an increase in the number of computer crimes around the world. According to the Prosecutor General of the Russian Federation, the number of crimes in the IT sphere has increased. The most common are illegal access to computer information and malicious computer programs. At the same time, the number of investigated crimes is reduced. Most of these crimes, due to their technological complexity, are committed by organized groups that have their own internal connections, features, hierarchy, motives. This paper scrutinizes by what methods, methods and means these groups (members of groups, relations between them, social roles, etc.) can be investigated to build practical recommendations for law enforcement agencies to identify such groups and curb their activities. Our comparative analysis revealed the general characteristics of such groups, both in sociological theory and in criminology. Based on our own observations and analysis, it was concluded that an organized criminal group, being an independent category, and considered as an element of the forensic characteristics in forensics, meets all the characteristics of the group as a sociological phenomenon. Consequently, the methods of sociology can be used in two ways: first, to identify such groups, and second, to identify relationships and roles within groups in identifying and investigating computer crimes.