Computer Crime

Written by Peter Shepelev on 00:06

Computer Crime

Copyright 1999, 2002 by Ronald B. Standler

Table of Contents

Introduction

1. Unauthorized use of computer

          Altering Websites

          Denial of Service (DoS) Attacks

2. Malicious computer programs

          Common, but Unacceptable, Justifications for Malicious Programs

3. Harassment & Stalking

4. Weak punishment in USA

5. Computer crime statutes in USA

6. Sue criminals in tort

Journalists

Conclusion

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Introduction

There are no precise, reliable statistics on the amount
of computer crime and the economic loss to victims, partly because
many of these crimes are apparently not detected by victims,
many of these crimes are never reported to authorities, and partly
because the losses are often difficult to calculate.
Nevertheless, there is a consensus among both law enforcement personnel
and computer scientists who specialize in security that both
the number of computer crime incidents and the sophistication
of computer criminals is increasing rapidly.
Estimates are that computer crime costs victims in the USA
at least US$ 5×10⁸/year, and the
true value of such crime might be substantially higher.
Experts in computer security, who are not attorneys,
speak of "information warfare". While such "information
warfare" is just another name for computer crime, the word
"warfare" does fairly denote the amount of damage inflicted on society.



I have posted a separate document,
Tips for Avoiding Computer Crime,
which includes suggestions for increasing the security and reliability
of personal computers, as well as
links
to websites on computer viruses, computer crime, and
anti-virus and firewall software.



Two comments on word usage in this essay:

I normally write in a gender neutral way, but here I use the masculine
pronoun for computer criminals, because (1) female computer criminals
are rare and (2) I can't imagine a feminist attacking me because
I deny equal recognition to women criminals. <grin>

To some professional computer programmers, the word "hacker" refers to
a skilled programmer and is neither pejorative nor does
it refer to criminal activity. However, to most users of English, the
word "hacker" refers to computer criminals, and that is the usage that
I have adopted in this essay.


I originally wrote this essay in May 1999.
I do not have the spare time that would be required
for a thorough search and analysis of reported cases and statutes on
computer crime, as well as newspaper accounts (most criminal
proceedings are resolved without generating any judicial decision
that is reported in legal databases or books),
so my revisions are mostly generalizations.

new crimes in cyberspace

There are three major classes of criminal activity with computers:

unauthorized use of a computer, which might involve
stealing a username and password, or might involve accessing
the victim's computer via the Internet through a backdoor
operated by a Trojan Horse program.

creating or releasing a malicious computer program
(e.g., computer virus, worm, Trojan Horse).

harassment and stalking in cyberspace.

old crimes

When lay people hear the words "computer crime", they often think of
obscene pictures available on the Internet,
or solicitation of children for sex by pedophiles via chat rooms
on the Internet.
The legal problem of obscenity on the Internet is mostly the same
as the legal problem of obscenity in books and magazines,
except for some technical issues of
personal jurisdiction on the Internet.
I have discussed obscenity on the Internet in my May 1997 essay on
law & technology
and I have nothing further to say about obscenity in this essay
on computer crime.



Similarly, many crimes involving computers are no different from
crimes without computers: the computer is only a tool
that a criminal uses to commit a crime. For example,

• Using a computer, a scanner, graphics software,
  and a high-quality color laser or ink jet printer for
  forgery or counterfeiting is the same crime as
  using an old-fashioned printing press with ink.
  
  
  
  
• Stealing a laptop computer with proprietary information
  stored on the hard disk inside the computer is the same crime
  as stealing a briefcase that contains papers with proprietary
  information.
  
  
  
  
• Using the Internet or online services to solicit sex is similar
  to other forms of solicitation of sex,
  and so is not a new crime.
  
  
  
  
• Using computers can be another way to commit either larceny or fraud.
  

In contrast to merely using computer equipment as a tool to commit
old crimes, this essay is concerned with computer crimes that are
new ways to harm people.

false origin

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