Week 7 Reflections

Cybercrime is at an all-time high due to the number of people that use computers and the number of transaction that can now be done electronically. The internet has it benefits but it has also created an avenue for people to commit crime from anywhere in the world. It also poses a challenge as to how a person should be prosecuted for committing a crime in another country over the internet. Take for example, someone in Australia hacks into a computer in the US and steals bank account information. Although the person resides in Australia the crime affected an individual in the United States. The question now becomes, where and how is the perpetrator prosecuted?

Generally a crime is considered as an action that contravenes the law of a particular country. Given that each county has different laws, what is considered cybercrime in one country might not be a crime in another.  Controversial issues such as encryption and some restricted websites have divided opinions among countries as to what should be legal and what should be illegal. Looking at laws of various countries including Canada, Brazil and the United States, I have found that they all have one thing in common. The main aim of the laws is to ensure safety of data and personal information for their citizens. There is no country where stealing of personal information is not considered a crime.

Cybercrime is not restricted to extreme malicious acts such as stealing personal information or viruses. Illegal downloads, download of pirated software and use of torrent sites are also considered as cybercrime.  Many people have knowingly or unknowingly downloaded software illegally on the internet which may not be considered a serious crime but would still be a crime and in most cases ethically unacceptable. I guess it boils down to how much harm such actions cause?