Since the rapid transformation in information technologies, people increasingly depend on digital technologies for socialisation and exchanging goods and services. While facilitating connectivity, the technological advantages in cyberspace also brought new problems, such as cybercrime. The easy accessibility and anonymity offered by the internet not only encourage offenders but also create a big challenge for law enforcement agencies (LEAs). Most LEAs lack the human, technical and fiscal resources to tackle cybercrime. Therefore, there is a strong demand among the LEAs to use private sector resources to cope with cyber threats.
In this context, since 2016, Europol executives have begun promoting a new public-private partnership (P3) model called 'Sharing Economy, also known as 'Uberization', to tackle cybercrime. In this model, members of an online community share their idle capacity resources with others for money or altruistic motivations. Sharing economy as a new governance model has considerable advantages. It provides low barrier accessibility to platform members and removes geographical barriers. Anyone with an internet connection can easily access these platforms. The technological infrastructure and matchmaking mechanisms belonging to online platforms reduce searching, contacting and contracting costs. Trust-building mechanisms developed by online platforms also foster confidence between users. Even though sharing economy is a trendy concept in business, finance, marketing, and law, we know very little about whether sharing economy can be a sustainable P3 model to tackle cybercrime. In this respect, an in-depth analysis of Europol's online P3 platforms is vital to see whether sharing economy can be a new P3 model in public administration. Based on the knowledge gap in the literature, the main objective of TUECS (The Uberization of Europol's Cybercrime Strategy) is to investigate the effectiveness of Europol's online platforms, whereby public and private actor resources are shared to tackle cybercrime. The project aims to reveal the strengths and weaknesses of Europol’s platforms through sharing economy principles. It seeks the answer to how this platform-based P3 model can be developed further for optimum level resource sharing. The project also intends to show how Europol's Uber-like online platforms can inspire existing and future online platforms governed by public administrations. The contribution of this research to both academia and practice is twofold. First, the research will systematically analyse Europol-associated online platforms through sharing economy concept. This research will inspire other researchers to use the same analytical framework for other P3 initiatives concerned with public administration. Second, research findings can help Europol and other public administrations develop their current P3 initiatives according to sharing economy principles.
