Ok, some argue that these are not “crimes”, but only manifestations of internet misconduct. However, various attempts have been made by “internet police” to suppress these violations…to no avail.
The digital age has arrived. This posted a terrible blow to various institutions such as the radio industry, postal mail system, and even newspapers (yeah, with all these online podcasts and RSS feeds going on, people are updated LIVE through the internet!).
While all these progress about the internet is good, and while communicating with millions of people at the click of a mouse or a finger push is actually a major advantage of our time, this has also bred a new series of problems, violations, or if you wish to call it, a new set of crimes invented by man himself.
These crimes don’t have specific punishments yet, and if George Washington or the Founding Fathers saw this a few centuries ago, they would have crafted a more elaborate constitution! But now, every law and precept in the world is either too vague, or has limited ability and specificity to punish these crimes:
SPAM
Of course, you like SPAM, especially if its fried in olive oil and served with eggs during breakfast. But believe me, you’d be annoyed if you saw dozens of these in your email inbox!
SPAM is the general term associated with unsolicited email. Remember the person with the weird name who emailed you and said he has cancer so please donate $500? Or how about the ‘naughty girl’ who says she’s ready to be viewed online? Or how about the oddball who emailed you about a pyramid scheme? These are all examples of SPAM!
For an email to be considered as SPAM, it must meet certain ‘qualifications’: First, it is a commercial email. Second, it invades privacy of an individual. Third, there are weird letters and characters. Fourth, there is consistent flooding and repetitive sending of email. Fifth, you did not personally subscribe for that information. Sixth, you have no personal relationship or knowledge of the whereabouts of the email sender! Seventh, there is no ‘unsubscribe link’ or at least a way out!
SPAM is now considered a crime because of the popular Nigerian 4-1-9 scams. These scams became notorious online for many years now. The con men behind it will gather millions of email addresses using illegal or unethical means, then proceed to mass email them with a fraudulent letter! For example, the 4-1-9 con man will tell the recipient, “I am a rich sultan in blah blah country and I want to transfer some of my money to another country. Will you please be the account holder in your country? I’ll give you 50% of the money!”
After the victim has believed the email, he will be asked for a small “wire transfer fee” of $100 or more. Then, if the victim indeed sends the wire transfer fee, the ’sultan’ will never email back again. Ever.
The CAN SPAM Act Of 2003 is a bill passed to suppress the spammers and bring them to justice. However, this law is still very limited compared to the various cases of SPAM reported. How can you prosecute someone who sends emails from offshore? How can evidence be traced if the online world is free of thumb marks, blood samples, and even AUDIBLE CONVERSATIONS? This is the reason why SPAM is pretty much ‘on the loose’ and many people still get away with it every single day.
Phishing
Phishing is the ‘art’ of exactly copying a certain popular website and fooling people to subscribe there so that they can surrender their vital contact information. For example, a “phisher” criminal might want to copy the Facebook homepage and even attempt to buy a domain name similar to Facebook (something like Facbook). Then people unknowingly log in to this website. The result? The ‘phisher’ will get private information from individuals!
Phishing actually goes beyond copying websites. Sometimes it resorts to using tracking cookies and hidden “trojan viruses” and online worms. These “devilish tools” are designed to extract login information, credit card details, and even money accounts! This is the reason why popular online money exchange sites like Paypal and E-Gold have phishing filters to protect the money of their account holders! But sometimes, the smartest “phishing” experts still manage to fool many people by sending them to a fraudulent site and extracting their personal information.
Phishing is not a joke. People can go broke as a result of it. People can give up private details to criminals. Personal emails can be read and intercepted. We must be totally aware of the danger. Never ever give away your personal information on questionable sites!
Plagiarism And Copyright Infringement
This is really a problem. With the millions of sites out there, and the hundreds of millions of users surfing the internet daily, there is no limit to the amount of content being submitted online, per minute!
The problem is, not all the content submitted online are ORIGINAL. Some are copied works. Some violate the copyrights of publishers, movie production companies, inventors, and even intellectual property! Movies, software, digital books, videos, commercial ads, and many others, have been plagiarized and infringed time and time again!
The main problem? It is impossible to track all the people who infringe copyrights. With the viral nature of the internet, one plagiarized or illegally distributed piece of content can spread like wildfire. Thus, the original “fake piece” will be hard to trace! You might find thousands of copies of a poem, ebook, or software that got “pirated”, but you will never know who first reproduced it illegally. Thus, very few prosecutions of plagiarism and copyright infringement have actually taken place.
The only solution to these three problems? Let’s close the internet from public use (ok, I can hear people screaming!). But that will make way for a bigger set of problems (problem number 1: Microsoft will go bankrupt). So, if shutting the internet from public use is not an option, let’s just temporarily satisfy ourselves with the idea that we’re too smart to be a victim of any of these so called “crimes”.
Note: The reference about Nigerian 4-1-9 scams does not in any way degrade, malign, or condemn the Nigerian population in general. Criminals referred to in this article are responsible for their own actions, and do not act in behalf of their respective country of origin.
November 25th, 2008 at 7:32 am
I was recently sent a couple of these 419 scam e-mails. The most important thing is to report them to the websites and get the e-mail adresses closed down.
November 25th, 2008 at 7:55 am
Very truth ,internet is not updated to act against on line crimes, if servers would send back spam to spamers ?
November 25th, 2008 at 8:09 am
I had to smile at a recent news article where the police have shut down a large criminal group on the internet, stating that it will stop a lot of the problems, mmm I think names will be changed and those who were taught well, will carry on the dirty deed, it will never stop, unless, as you say Verniel, that the Internet is shutdown. Good article, always nice to see your work;)
November 25th, 2008 at 8:33 am
That’s what I am scared of. Thanks for sharing.
November 25th, 2008 at 10:40 am
All very important crimes for us to be aware of. Also illegal downloading!
November 25th, 2008 at 10:42 am
So I have this great product that you have to buy…. Just kidding. Great article once again. Very informative and I am so sick of spam! Not the kind you eat, although it’s not a favorite of mine. Take care and thanks for the quick education on Spam, Phishing(which I really wasn’t sure what that was til now)and copyright infringement.
November 25th, 2008 at 12:31 pm
It’s good to keep these things in mind!
November 25th, 2008 at 7:33 pm
It happened to me once. I was phished and had to close an account. It can happen to anyone so take care. I also get the e-mails telling me I am coming into a large fortune. I think everybody who has an email gets those. Take care,ruby
November 25th, 2008 at 8:21 pm
Great article my friend. Spammers are irritating. If you ask me I prefer the spam- food. LOL!
November 25th, 2008 at 10:54 pm
It’s a shame that people are not using their time for better things. Thank God there are so many people out in the world like you who are doing positive things with their time!
Blessings.
Sincerely,
-Liane Schmidt.
November 26th, 2008 at 1:20 am
Cool stuff – I am going to post a link up on my students’ intranet if that is OK with you – the younger ones have to learn about these things soon… though telling them about them is like a red rag to a bull sometimes!
)
November 26th, 2008 at 4:21 am
That’s ok, RJ, I don’t mind. Feel free to send this to Scotland Yard as well. I remember reading a news item about Pentagon being hacked or phished by an offshore computer genius. Although the hacker was traced and brought to justice, he mysteriously disappeared and didn’t even serve time in prison. Rumors have it that the Pentagon actually hired him to do anti-phishing and hacking activities or that sort of job.
It’s crazy. My brother borrowed a “basic hacking course”..lol… and I’m really terrified with the possibility of strangers breaking into our privacy! I don’t know why he bought it, maybe he was just curious. But let’s hope he doesn’t get into your email inboxes! haha
(P.S: the hacking “course” was really a documentary..so there’s nothing to worry about)
November 26th, 2008 at 6:04 am
Very well done! It also means that you have to read received e-mails carefully, which means also sometimes reading the not so obvious spam. It’s a most annoying situation.
November 26th, 2008 at 8:19 am
i enjoyed reading this article on protecting your identity.really valuable information.well done!
November 27th, 2008 at 9:28 am
Great article! Thanks for bringing awareness to this important issues.
November 27th, 2008 at 10:06 pm
Nice! A very informative and well written article. That is scary stuff.
November 30th, 2008 at 1:12 am
Awesome post!
Earlier tonight my fiancee actually posted on her website, a warning about the latest Nigerian Bulldog puppy scam. It’s really sad how far these criminals will go to steal people’s money and also their identities. They have no morals whatsoever.
We need a better internet police to help put a stop to these criminals. They need to hire the world’s best hackers to find the source of all major online scams. It may only put a dent in the amount of online scams but a dent is better then nothing.
December 29th, 2008 at 1:12 pm
Hard to police, but some sort of solution needs to be worked out. Very informative.
January 4th, 2009 at 4:49 am
Very hard to police the net as its so big. Hopefully someone comes up with something in the near future. Nice work Verniel.
January 16th, 2009 at 6:26 pm
good info
May 25th, 2009 at 5:22 pm
Very interesting informationn
November 18th, 2009 at 12:10 am
that is so true! and i know being aware with this would help prevent these crimes…