New technology and global cyber crime

Question 1

overview

Answer 1

The arrival of new types of media is often met with a moral panic (e.g. horror comics, cinema, TV, computer games, etc.) & the internet is no exception.

Almost half the world’s population are now online which has led to fears of cyber-crime – computer-mediated activities that are either illegal or considered illicit by some, & that are conducted through global electronic networks. In particular, the internet “is feared as facilitating all sorts of offences, from fraud, identity theft, child pornography & grooming children for sex, to organising transnational crime & terrorism” (Greer & Reiner, 2012).

Question 2

4 categories of cyber crime

Answer 2

1. Cyber-trespass – crossing boundaries into others’ cyber-property including hacking & sabotage, such as spreading viruses.
2. Cyber-deception & theft – including identity theft, ‘phishing’ (obtaining identity or bank details by deception) & violation of intellectual property rights (e.g. software piracy, illegal downloading & file sharing).
3. Cyber-pornography – including porn involving minors & opportunities for children to access porn on the Net.
4. Cyber-violence – doing psychological harm or inciting physical harm which includes cyber-stalking (e.g. sending unwanted, threatening or offensive emails), hate crimes against minority groups, terrorist & extremist ideas that could threaten individuals or governments, as well as bullying by text.

Question 3

evidence

Answer 3

ertainly evidence of large numbers of crimes being committed through the internet. In 2015, for the first time, the Home Office published statistics estimating online crime alongside other crime statistics. As a result the total amount of recorded crime doubled, with 5.1 million estimated incidents of online fraud & 2.5 million other cybercrimes (Travis, 2015).

Policing cyber-crime is difficult partly because of the sheer scale of the Internet & the limited resources of the police, & also because of its globalised nature, which poses problems of jurisdiction (e.g. in which country should someone be prosecuted for an Internet offence?).

Question 4

A03

Answer 4

However, the new ICT also provides the police & state with greater opportunities for surveillance & control of the population through CCTV, electronic databases, digital fingerprinting, as well as the installation of listening devices called ‘carnivores’ at Internet service providers to monitor email traffic.

Also, on the positive side, global communication can encourage people to behave pro-socially by media messages such as disaster appeals & human rights protests. International publicity can also be used to try & catch criminals & solve crimes