Computer Crime Example Persuasive Essay Example

crimes that occur in cyber space, and crimes committed against a computer. Some of the crimes are completely new; while others are older rimes that merely use the computer as a tool.

The endless and constant growing variety of computer crimes makes it difficult to pass laws that adequately cover new computer crimes. Some crimes such as embezzlement, wire fraud, and forgery, are already covered under existing law. Others, such as cyber vandalism, cyber terrorism, and cyber espionage, are relatively new. For these newer crimes, the letter of the existing law sometimes does not allow prosecution of what clearly is criminal behavior. Employees and ex-employees of the victimized company commit most ? White collar crimes?.

Likewise about 75 to 80 percent of prosecuted computer crimes are committed by current or former employees. There are many different kinds of computer crimes ranging from identity theft to sexual harassment to otherwise ordinary ? While collar? Crimes that happen to Involve a computer. The most common form Is online theft and fraud. Phrases, crackers, and sometimes hackers Illegally access and use voice mall, e-mail, and network access accounts-which constitute toll fraud or wire fraud. Long distance access codes are In great demand by the hackers, crackers, phone phrases and street criminal.

Some cyber-criminals obtain the codes One reason that this is a common is a common form of crime among hackers and phone phrases is because they tend to run up enormous phone bills pursuing their hobbies for 10 ? 12 hours a day. Others obtain the codes from ? Pirate? Electronic bulletin boards, where they are posted in exchange for free software, credit card numbers or other

information. Software piracy is another growing and seemingly insurmountable problem. It is illegal under American Copyright Laws, but most software piracy actually takes place overseas.

Federal copyright laws are often insufficient even to prosecute United States citizens, as illustrated by the now famous case of David La Mach. La Mach, a student at Massachusetts Institute of Technology, distributed free software through a bulletin board service on a M. I. T computer. After a FBI probe La Mach was inedited on 1994 for conspiracy to committee fraud. The software he offered reportedly had a total value of over one million dollars, but La Mach argued that he had not distributed the software for financial gain and therefore could not have violated the federal copyright laws. The case was dismissed.

One of the most freighting computer crimes is identity theft. This kind of fraud is much easier than it was once, because a wealth of personnel information is available online for free, and even more personal information is available for a small fee. Now that drivers license numbers are also stored on computers, which a re usually part of a larger network, a persons physical characteristics-eye color, height, and persons physical characteristics-are also available. Magnetic strips on credit cards and ATM cards require computers to read them and to keep records of the millions of orientations made ever day.

Like identity theft, some other computer crimes are not new, except that the perpetrator now uses computer to commit them. For example, money laundering has been committed for many decades. But a money laundered using a computer is able to carry out the crime much more quickly and

efficiently, Just as computers enable legitimate workers to for their Jobs more quickly and efficiently. There are several forms of computer criminals; the term ? Hacker? Describes a person extremely adept and clever at programming. The term later came to mean a person adept to ? Racking? New systems undetected.

Hackers are merely curious but can unintentionally cause considerable damage. But the quest for information and learning-not revenge or maliciousness-is what drives most hackers to pursue their hobby so relentlessly. ?Crackers? , on the other hand, are malicious hackers. They break into systems to vandalize, plant viruses and worms, delete files, or wreak some other kind of havoc. Embezzlement, fraud, or industrial espionage is Just a few of the crackers possible objectives. Cyber espionage exists between countries as well as between companies, o it poses a danger to our national security.

There is no disputing that what crackers Another form of computer crime is perpetrated by ? Phone phrases.? Instead of accessing computer systems phrases explore the cyber world through phone lines. Phrases were among the earliest forms of hackers, operating as early as the 1970? s. One incident caused by phrases, involved the New York City Police Department. Phrases broke into the NYPD? s phone system and changed the taped message that greeted callers. The new message said, ? Officers are too busy eating doughnuts and drinking coffee to answer the phones.?

It directed callers to dial 119 in an emergency. The enormous range of computer crimes means that all of society should be concerned about computer security, regardless of our individual level of computer expertise. World financial systems rely heavily on computers, as

do national defenses, private businesses, and increasingly, personal correspondence.? We are all users,? In the words of Buck Blockers, whether or not we actually use computers, because we all rely on them. We must not view computer crime as an exotic activity. To do so would prevent us from seeing that it endangers each one of us.