Crime on the Internet Essay -- Internet Crime Essays

Overview If cyberspace is a type of community, a giant neighborhood made up of networked computer users around the world, then it seems natural that many elements of a traditional society can be found taking shape as bits and bytes. With electronic commerce comes electronic merchants, plugged-in educators provide networked education, and doctors meet with patients in offices on-line. It should come as no surprise that there are also cybercriminals committing cybercrimes. As an unregulated hodgepodge of corporations, individuals, governments, educational institutions, and other organizations that have agreed in principle to use a standard set of communication protocols, the Internet is wide open to exploitation. There are no sheriffs on the Information Superhighway waiting to zap potential offenders with a radar gun or search for weapons if someone looks suspicious. By almost all accounts, this lack of "law enforcement" leaves net users to regulate each other according to the reigning norms of the moment. Community standards in cyberspace appear to be vastly different from the standards found at the corner of Main Street and Elm in Any City, USA. Unfortunately, cyberspace is also a virtual tourist trap where faceless, nameless con artists can work the crowds. Mimicking real life, crimes and criminals come in all varieties on the Internet. The FBI's National Computer Crime Squad is dedicated to detecting and preventing all types of computer-related crimes. Some issues being carefully studied by everyone from Net veterans and law enforcement agencies to radical pundits include: Computer network break-ins Industrial espionage Software piracy Child pornography E-mail bombings Password sniffers Spoofing Credit card fraud Computer network break-ins Using software tools installed on a computer in a remote location, hackers can break into computer systems to steal data, plant viruses or trojan horses, or work mischief of a less serious sort by changing user names or passwords. Network intrusions have been made illegal by the U.S. federal government, but detection and enforcement are difficult. Limitations with the law as it is currently written can be seen upon examining Kevin Mitnick's recent plea bargain, wherein there is little connection between his final plea and the crimes he allegedly committed. Industr... ...ancisco Examiner; July 2, 1995 Hacker Held Without Bail; Reuter; February 17, 1995 Hacker Reaches Plea Bargain (paraphrased: no title given); Reuter; July 1, 1995 Most Wanted Computer Hacker Gets Court Date; Reuter; February 16, 1995 Miscellaneous Documents Abelson, Hal & Mike Fischer; Listiing of Materials and Reading for Course 6.805/STS085 at MIT Greenspun, Philip; David LaMacchia Defense Fund Hacker Dictionary http://gnn.com/; Shimomura vs. Mitnick: The Computer Crime of the Year?; (possibly written by O'Reilly) Loundy, Dave; Encode, Delete, Download-You're Busted; Chicago Daily Law Bulletin; August 10, 1995 Miller, Adam S.; The Jake Baker Scandal; Trincoll Journal Perry, Kenneth M., Esq. and P-Law, Inc.; Current Regulatory Environment pjswan@engin.umich.edu; What's the Big Deal over Jake Baker Reid, Brian, PhD.; Pornography on the 'Net Siino, Rosanne M.; Official Netscape Response to French Hacker Sterling, Bruce; The Hacker Crackdown: Law and Disorder on the Electronic Frontier Wall Street Journal; AOL Plagued by Hackers; September 8, 1995 Wallich, Paul; Wire Pirates; Scientific American; March 1994