Crime Committed Using Electronic Devices

Crime Committed Using Electronic Devices

Introduction

The birth of the information age brought with it changes far beyond the scope of human imagination. Technological developments such as video cameras, cellular phones, and computers have changed the way people think and act. One of the most monumental technological advances in the history of humankind was the development of the Internet. The Internet is a series of interconnected networks that allow for electronic communication and information sharing all over the world with the use of capable electronic devices. The Internet is the name given to the main system of networks; however, there are numerous Internet systems. Also, the term Internet is often mistakenly used interchangeably with the term World Wide Web. Internet refers to the actual network, while World Wide Web refers to a series of interconnected electronic documents that can be searched for and shared on the Internet. Unfortunately, while the Internet has revolutionized communication, business, academia, retail, and almost every other industry, it has also created opportunities for crime (McQuade, 2006).

Discussion

Cyber crime is crime that occurs when computers or computer networks are involved as tools, locations, or targets of crime. This means that cyber crime may include a wide variety of traditional types of crime, such as theft or even extortion, but that these may take on novel forms because of the opportunities provided by the cyber environment. Since computers and networks now pervade almost every corner of our lives, from making a telephone call to driving on the freeway, the crimes that occur in the cyber environment are many. Some of these crimes may or may not be crimes, depending on the jurisdiction, especially as the Internet transcends international borders. Gambling, for example, or even trading in child pornography, may not be crimes in some countries. Some of these crimes are old crimes with a new face. For example, a thief may purchase an item from an online store using a false identity or credit card; a robber may force a victim to divulge his PIN number at an ATM; an embezzler may siphon off money from online bank accounts. Apart from the cyber enhancement of traditional crimes described above, we are probably all victims of some aspect of cyber crime, since the costs (both economic and social) of maintaining secure networks is in the long run passed on to consumers. This is reflected not only in the ...