TECHNOLOGY AND CRIME
TECHNOLOGY AND CRIME
Cybercrime, hacking, blackmailing, fraud, theft and extortion; these are the first few types of crimes come into my mind when we are presented with the words “technology” and “crime”. One of the reasons might be that we all have been prone to the nuisance caused by any of these crimes at least once, as almost everyone these days has access to the computer and the internet. Lets us start by considering the fact that Crime has existed as long as humans and will only become extinct with us. Why? Because offending and violating laws is defined as crime, and laws are created by man. One should, nevertheless, accept that technology gives us a lot of improvements as regards health, communication, transport etc. But at the same time no one can deny that technology has elevated crime rates and has even given birth to a variety of new crimes, and as Albert Einstein said technological progress is like an axe in the hands of pathological criminals. Before a conclusion is made, this topic will be assessed by using various examples.
The first thing that needs to be said is that Cell phones, email and instant messaging have facilitated the criminals into “doing their job” by lessening their communication gap to only seconds. It is important to add that criminal masterminds from different countries no longer have to sit in the same conference room and plot, with the fear of any law enforcement agency locating their secret meeting place. All they have to do is either talk to each other on their cell phones using conference calling and send and receive written and graphical information on the same device, or simply send an email. This is one of the major reasons why crimes such as car theft, robbery, stalking and terrorism have mounted. Crimes like drug dealing don’t depend on letters, or dealers to visit the purchaser personally anymore. A simple phone call will suffice as a source of contact between the two parties. A phone call and the price will be
Cybercrime, hacking, blackmailing, fraud, theft and extortion; these are the first few types of crimes come into my mind when we are presented with the words “technology” and “crime”. One of the reasons might be that we all have been prone to the nuisance caused by any of these crimes at least once, as almost everyone these days has access to the computer and the internet. Lets us start by considering the fact that Crime has existed as long as humans and will only become extinct with us. Why? Because offending and violating laws is defined as crime, and laws are created by man. One should, nevertheless, accept that technology gives us a lot of improvements as regards health, communication, transport etc. But at the same time no one can deny that technology has elevated crime rates and has even given birth to a variety of new crimes, and as Albert Einstein said technological progress is like an axe in the hands of pathological criminals. Before a conclusion is made, this topic will be assessed by using various examples.
The first thing that needs to be said is that Cell phones, email and instant messaging have facilitated the criminals into “doing their job” by lessening their communication gap to only seconds. It is important to add that criminal masterminds from different countries no longer have to sit in the same conference room and plot, with the fear of any law enforcement agency locating their secret meeting place. All they have to do is either talk to each other on their cell phones using conference calling and send and receive written and graphical information on the same device, or simply send an email. This is one of the major reasons why crimes such as car theft, robbery, stalking and terrorism have mounted. Crimes like drug dealing don’t depend on letters, or dealers to visit the purchaser personally anymore. A simple phone call will suffice as a source of contact between the two parties. A phone call and the price will be