Cyber Crimes
Crime is not new. The means by which criminals are able to commit crimes has vastly changed in some respects thanks to the use of the Internet and computers. As technology advances, so does the ways in which criminals are able to pull off their horrendous deeds. With the Internet, crimes can now be committed more anonymously and with lightning speed. On the other hand, the same technology that allows criminals to engage in felonious acts is the exact same technology that helps law enforcement catch them.
In 1999, President Clinton brought about the Working group on Unlawful Conduct on the Internet to talk about unlawful conduct in regards to the Internet, and to prepare a report on issues such as: To what degree do the current Federal laws allow prosecution and investigation on unlawful Internet conduct, how much will new technology help law enforcement to investigate and prosecute unlawful Internet acts, to what extent are we able to help parents, teachers and other people get the tools they need to help reduce the chances of unlawful Internet conduct.
Some of the many crimes that are regularly committed with the facilitation of the Internet are child pornography, fraud, the sell and purchase of illegal guns or drugs, or other material that are protected by copyright. In the worst cases, cyber crimes can result in child abduction and molestation, and physical harm to victims. These heinous crimes have forced lawmakers and legislators to look long at hard at the state of crimes in relation to the Internet, and what laws are in effect to protect and prevent such crimes from harming those at risk.
In order to understand what makes a crime a "computer crime", one has to use their knowledge of computing in the crime. Computer crimes can be broken down into three categories:
1."Hacking" into someone's computer for the purpose of stealing by taking complete control over the information contained within, or gaining control over someone's computer in an effort to sabotage information or mess up the flow of information or crash the server.
2. Criminals use computers as ways to keep up with illegal contacts, such as drug dealers. A person who steals identities may use the computer to store stolen passwords, credit card info, and other sensitive information in furtherance of an illegal act.
3. The other way in which criminals utilize the computer to further illegal acts is through the act of communication. Email accounts on a computer can be used to set up any number of unlawful acts.
A terrible threat facing people of the online community is "cyber stalking". It is similar to stalking that is illegal in the real world, only it takes place on the Internet. It is when one uses the Internet to harass, follow, or put the victim in fear for their lives. In 1999, The Attorney General issued a report Cyberstalking: A New Challenge For Law Enforcement and Industry( www.usdoj.gov/criminal/cybercrime) . It brings to light the crime of cyber stalking, the need to fortify current laws so as to better protect potential victims, and what laws that exist today can do to help stop this rapidly expanding problem.
To help shroud the public from this and other cyber crimes, many security measures need to be implemented such as: Tools used to filter and block unwanted contact from criminals to children, and other people who may be at risk. Programs should be implemented to teach children, parents and others about the importance of safe online conduct. Corporations need to work with law enforcement in an effort to curtail Internet crime, and to report suspicious activity to proper agencies.
If we all work together, one day we may see a dramatic plummet in the amount and frequency of crimes as they relate to the Internet. Until that day, we all have an obligation to safeguard ourselves and our loved ones from cyber criminals and to report violations of inappropriate computer conduct.
21st Century Domestic Abusers Utilizing Technology - The Cyberstalking Epidemic
By Alexis A Moore
This year our nation experienced the first public health emergency being declared by a government official regarding domestic violence. Massachusetts Governor Deval Patrick declared a "sate of emergency" stemming from the exponential rise in the numbers of domestic violence related deaths in that state. Nationwide, law enforcement officials indicate a dramatic increase in restraining orders as well as stalking cases that involve the use of technology. This is not good news for our nation's domestic violence and stalking victims.
The Department of Justice statistical report of June 29, 2006 indicates on average, more than three women are murdered by their husbands or boyfriends in this country every day. Approximately 1.3 million women are physically assaulted by an intimate partner annually in the United States every year. Every 12 seconds a woman is beaten in this country as the result of domestic violence. The FBI reports that domestic violence is the leading cause of injury to women between the ages of 15 to 44-more than car accidents, muggings, and rapes combined.
Victim resources continue to be overwhelmed across the nation. Domestic violence victims' greatest service needs are for temporary and permanent safe housing, financial assistance, and counseling. In addition, domestic violence and stalking victims' also need access to social service support and advocacy, legal representation, vocational training and childcare. However, the victims needs don't stop there. The World Wide Web has created a new criminal epidemic known as cyberstalking. Cyberstalking impacts millions within the U.S. and a substantial number of cyberstalking victims are victims of domestic abuse. Far too often domestic violence victims become cyberstalking victims and our nation's resources and antiquated laws are not equipped to tackle these more difficult cases involving the use of technology.
Domestic abusers have extended their reach in ways unlike ever before. For millions of domestic abuse victims' who are already the target of an abuser, and need to keep data from them it is particularly difficult in the 21st century primarily because of the on-line datafurnishing industry and the many databases that house consumer private records information. Cyberstalking is a growing threat in our increasingly automated, technology-dependant society. Technology today allows for anyone including domestic abusers to harass and intimidate with no repercussions because their handiwork is nearly untraceable.
Privacy protection is important to everyone; however, for victims of domestic violence privacy protection is far too often a matter of life or death. Domestic violence victims' who do the "right thing" and seek aid from government agencies and the courts create technological trails of their private lives in government records and on-line databases allowing for domestic abusers to become cyberstalkers with ease. Phone records, social security numbers, employment information, property records, credit information, medical records and more is available on-line today making a victims' path to freedom more difficult than ever before.
A cyberstalker relies upon their ability to harass, torture, manipulate, control and in some cases ruin a victim's life- anonymously avoiding detection and prosecution. Unlike traditional stalkers who harass their victims in person by perpetrating acts outside of their homes; cyberstalkers anonymously stalk their prey while sitting comfortably behind computer screens. With the "click of the mouse" cyberstalkers are baffling law enforcement and prosecutors while making victims lives miserable. Within seconds vast amounts of consumer private records and information can be sent and received; far too often this information ends up in the wrong hands of a domestic abuser now a merciless cyberstalker.
However; not all technology is having a negative impact on victims. There is new hope for many victims with orders of protection that are often regarded as "worthless pieces of paper". The use of GPS technology with restraining orders is one way that technology is helping to improve the quality of life for many victims of stalking and abuse. Today, GPS technology may be utilized with restraining orders in 13 states. California is amongst 4 other states that are in the initial stages of proposing similar legislation this coming year.
If you are a victim of domestic violence or cyberstalking you are not alone.
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Cyber Crime Law Separating Myth From Reality
By Emma Gill
Remember Bruce Willis, the main protagonist in the fourth installment of the Die Hard series last summer? Live Free or Die Hard depicts Willis as the New York police department detective John McClane who is commissioned to capture a gang of 'cyber terrorists' intent on shutting down the entire world's internet. In today's increasingly volatile world of mobile activated bombs and websites of various militant groups, it is not hard to imagine the Die Hard scenario materializing in real life as well.
One of the most fascinating aspects of modern technology is how it has penetrated every scope and strata of society. Everyone from the uneducated mechanic to the high-profile chief executive officer of a firm now carries a mobile and is aware of what a computer is. This infiltration of technology in our communities has, by and large, proved to be beneficial. But like every other good thing, technology too can be exploited. This exploitation, among other things, has resulted in certain crimes being committed through or against computers, their affiliated networks and the information contained within them. Thus, came about the neologism of cyber crime.
Even though the term is now widely used in law circles, disagreements are aplenty regarding what actually entails cyber crime. President of Naavi.org, India's largest cyber law information portal suggests that the term is a misnomer. "The concept of cyber crime is not radically different from that of conventional crime," says in a report on the portal, "Both include conduct whether act or omission, which cause breach of rules of law and [are] counterbalanced by the sanction of the state. Cyber crime may be said to be [one of] those species, of which, the genus is conventional crime, and where either the computer is an object or subject of the conduct constituting crime,"
However, despite the similar legal nature of both conventional and cyber crime, they are substantially different in practice. Cyber crimes are far easier to learn how to commit, require fewer resources relative to the potential damage caused, can be committed in a jurisdiction without being physically present in, and until recently, their status of illegality has been, at best, vague. As the global technology policy and management consulting firm McConnell Institute notes in a comprehensive report on the subject, many countries' existing archaic laws threaten the global information dynamic
"The growing danger from crimes committed against computers, or against information on computers, is beginning to claim attention in national capitals. In most countries around the world, however, existing laws are likely to be unenforceable against such crimes".
The report added, "Existing terrestrial laws against physical acts of trespass or breaking and entering often do not cover their 'virtual' counterparts. New kinds of crimes can fall between the cracks."
Furthermore, efficient law enforcement is further complicated by the transnational nature of cyberspace.
"Mechanisms of cooperation across national borders are complex and slow. Cyber criminals can defy the conventional jurisdictional realms of sovereign nations, originating an attack from almost any computer in the world, passing it across multiple national boundaries, or designing attacks that appear to be originating from foreign sources. Such techniques dramatically increase both the technical and legal complexities of investigating and prosecuting cyber crimes."
To protect themselves from those who would steal, deny access to, or destroy valuable information, public and private institutions have increasingly relied on security technology. But in today's rapid world of e-commerce, self protection, however essential, alone cannot make up for a lack of legal protection. Many countries, therefore, now have separate legislation against such activities.
The bill covers two basic types of cyber crimes. One in which computers themselves are targets (such as criminal data access, data damage, malicious code, and various other kinds of information theft on computer networks), while the other in which computer and other technology are used as a tool to commit virtual versions of various conventional crimes (such as cyber terrorism, electronic fraud and forgery, cyber stalking and spamming, etc).
For the average internet surfer, unaware of the technical definitions of most of these offences, the law may appear quite confusing at the first glance. It shall come as no surprise, therefore, that disagreements regarding the ordinance's interpretation persist even in the broader legal fraternity. In particular, it has come under fire from civil rights groups and a section of lawyers who denounce it as "effectively and practically [...] useless against cyber crimes" but nevertheless creating "enormous obstructions and nuisances for IT enabled [...] businesses and individuals" as well as considerably sacrificing individual liberties such as that of privacy.
Mark Tamale (former member of the information technology law forum and the ministry of science and technology) who has been at the forefront of the awareness campaign, 'Take a bite out of the cyber crimes law' has criticised this and other sections of the ordinance as being too ambiguous. He implies that the law could, as a consequence, render even something as innocuous as googling 'how to make an atomic bomb' a 'terrorist act.' Surely however, the 'knowingly engages in' portion of the statue as well as the subsequent definition of
'terrorist-ic intent' should make this a highly unlikely possibility.
A more pressing concern however, at least for the average citizen would be of privacy. Sections of the law pertaining to corporate responsibility require all internet service providers to store up to 90 days of data regarding consumers' internet usage. Service providers are also, in turn, legally bound to comply with federal law enforcement agencies if they require such data. Such broad ranging powers for the law enforcement agencies are a common feature of the ordinance, which also empowers the Federal Investigation Authority to issue an arrest warrant without any direct involvement of the judiciary.
This means that in effect if the peoples found out how you took a picture of the man that always stands at the beginning of your lane and then posted it in your blog, then you may end up in jail (section 13 (d) of the bill renders it illegal to distribute any image on the Web without the prior explicit consent of the person in the picture). You may also be arrested for bombarding all your 'frands' with Valentine Day wishes (section 13 defines cyber stalking as 'communicating obscene, vulgar, profane, lewd, lascivious or indecent language, picture or images with an intent to coerce, intimate or harass any person using a computer network, internet, network site, electronic mail or any other similar means of communication').
Worse still, if you committed any of 21 crimes enlisted in the bill in your office premises, you will not only end up in jail yourself, but land your bosses in hot water as well. For section 21, on offenses by a corporate body, holds any corporation responsible for any action which was committed on its instruction or for its benefit. Some of these definitions, even by layman standards paint very abstruse criteria.
Even if one puts aside valid concerns about the lack of procedural safeguards and due process to protect the rights and the liberties of individuals, one cannot help but wonder how it will become a nightmare to implement the law, and then prove any accusations in a trial, especially given the international nature of cyber crime. Unless the crimes mentioned in it are defined in a manner consistent across other international jurisdictions, coordinated efforts by law enforcement officials to combat cyber crime will remain largely complicated and unsuccessful. There is also a most pressing need to educate law enforcers themselves about the nature of technology involved, so they can distinguish aptly between a casual surfer and genuine cyber criminal. The past reputation of our law enforcement agencies does not leave one with a lot of confidence in this respect.
In short, a separate ordinance for cyber crimes is in it self a step in the right direction. After all, rule of law in any capacity always constitutes towards blossoming a trustworthy environment for business and individuals to work in. But merely passing a law has never been enough to curtail any crime; the real deterrent will be its implementation and awareness among the public.
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