Computer Crime
In today’s society our most valuable commodity is not grain, steel or
even
technology; it is information. Because of computer networks, just about
everyone
can now access an astounding range of information. The Internet
is
international, even though 80 percent of the Internet use occurs in the
United
States, and a staggering amount of information on every subject
imaginable is
available for free. Because so many people now have access,
computer crimes have
become more frequent. Everyone with a computer and a
modem can commit a computer
crime if so inclined. Anyone, conceivably, could
become a "white collar"
computer criminal. When the term "white collar" crime
came into wide spread
use several decades ago, it was thought that certain
crimes were committed by
persons whom no one would normally suspect of
criminal behavior: professional,
"white collar" workers. In the late
1990’s, however, the term "white
collar" is somewhat inaccurate. The playing
field has been leveled by the
widespread use of computers. Now "white collar
crime" tends to mean simply"non violent crime" or "economic crime." As
technology becomes
increasingly accessible to more and more people, it also
becomes a potential
tool for increasing numbers of criminals. Most computer
crimes do not involve
violence but rather greed, pride, or play on some
character weakness of the
victim. They are based on dishonesty and not force.
For these reasons, computer
crimes are considered white collar. Just as the
term "white collar crime"
designates several kinds of crime, the term
computer crime also designated
several types of crime. It includes crimes
that are committed with a computer,
crimes that occur in cyber space, and
crimes committed against a computer. Some
of the crimes are completely new;
while others are older crimes 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 "white collar" crimes that happen to
involve a computer.
The most common form is online theft and fraud. Phreaks,
crackers, and
sometimes hackers illegally access and use voice mail, 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
phreaks and
street criminal. Some cyber-criminals obtain the codes by
"shoulder surfing"
or looking over the shoulder of unwary people in phone
booths. One reason that
this is a common is a common form of crime among
hackers and phone phreaks 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
Macchia. La Macchia, 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 Macchia was
indited on 1994 for conspiracy to
committee fraud. The software he offered
reportedly had a total value of over
one million dollars, but La Macchia 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 transactions 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
quickly6 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 "cracking" 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, so it poses a danger to our national security. There is
no
disputing that what crackers do is dangerous as well as illegal. Another
form of
computer crime is perpetrated by "phone phreaks." Instead of
accessing
computer systems phreaks explore the cyber world through phone
lines. Phreaks
were among the earliest forms of hackers, operating as early
as the 1970’s.One
incident caused by phreaks, involved the New York City
Police Department.
Phreaks 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 Bloonbecker,
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.