Parents, teachers, non-profits, government, and industry have been working hard to protect kids online. However, we also need to think about protecting the Internet from kids who might abuse it.
The Department of Justice categorizes computer crime in three ways:
The computer as a target - attacking the computers of others (spreading viruses is an example).
The computer as a weapon - using a computer to commit "traditional crime" that we see in the physical world (such as fraud or illegal gambling).
The computer as an accessory - using a computer as a "fancy filing cabinet" to store illegal or stolen information.
Reports of alleged computer crime have been a hot news item of late. Especially alarming is the realization that many of the masterminds behind these criminal acts are mere kids. In fact, children no longer need to be highly skilled in order to execute cyber crimes. "Hacker tools" are easily available on the Net and, once downloaded, can be used by even novice computer users. This greatly expands the population of possible wrongdoers. Children (and in some cases - their parents) often think that shutting down or defacing Web sites or releasing network viruses are amusing pranks. Kids might not even realize that what they are doing is illegal. Still other kids might find themselves hanging out online with skilled hackers who share hacking tools with them and encourage them to do inappropriate things online. Unfortunately, some of these kids don't realize that they are committing crimes until it is too late. Even more distressing and difficult to combat is the fact that some in the media portray the computer criminal as a modern day Robin Hood. Nothing could be further from the truth.
The Department of Justice categorizes computer crime in three ways:
The computer as a target - attacking the computers of others (spreading viruses is an example).
The computer as a weapon - using a computer to commit "traditional crime" that we see in the physical world (such as fraud or illegal gambling).
The computer as an accessory - using a computer as a "fancy filing cabinet" to store illegal or stolen information.
Reports of alleged computer crime have been a hot news item of late. Especially alarming is the realization that many of the masterminds behind these criminal acts are mere kids. In fact, children no longer need to be highly skilled in order to execute cyber crimes. "Hacker tools" are easily available on the Net and, once downloaded, can be used by even novice computer users. This greatly expands the population of possible wrongdoers. Children (and in some cases - their parents) often think that shutting down or defacing Web sites or releasing network viruses are amusing pranks. Kids might not even realize that what they are doing is illegal. Still other kids might find themselves hanging out online with skilled hackers who share hacking tools with them and encourage them to do inappropriate things online. Unfortunately, some of these kids don't realize that they are committing crimes until it is too late. Even more distressing and difficult to combat is the fact that some in the media portray the computer criminal as a modern day Robin Hood. Nothing could be further from the truth.
In my opinion the best way, parents can prevent their children from cyber crimes is advise and inform them with cyber laws and abuse of internet aftermaths. But some barriers that exist and parents can not aware their children are:
1) Parents are so busy.
2) They don't know any thing about cyber crimes and cyber laws.
3) Children are smarter and more eager and have more access to internet information and technology.
Imagine you have a child. How can you create context for your child to understand what cyber crimes are?
I will wait for your comments and ideas.
If you will agree with me, technologies are morally neutral until we apply them. It's only when we use them for good or for evil that they become good or evil. True or false?
ReplyDeleteNeither parents or anyone is to be blamed, The evil plotter is the one to be arrested.
Thanks.