Computer Crime :: essays research papers fc

  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  The technological revolution has taken full swing. If a business doesn't have some form of e-commerce, or if a person does not have some form of an e-mail address, they are seen as living in the stone age. This new world of virtual life, where with the click of a button a person can travel millions of miles in a few seconds, millions of new opportunities have arisen. However, someone has to always ruin the good things in life. Very similar to Hawthorne's "The Scarlet Letter," where the second thing built in a Utopia was a prison, the advent of computer crime is only becoming more prevelant everyday. The whole idea of a computer crime is rather absurd indeed. Really, who wants to go around spray painting on computers anyway? Though the definition of computer crime varies from source to source, the most common being," any illegal act which oinvolves a computer system" (  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  "What is a computer..." p.1). This holds true even if the computer contains s omething as simple as a threatening e-mail. Computer crime in nature ranges from relatively small things such as software piracy to magnificent crimes like fraud.   Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Computer crime itself has metamorphasized from its mere infancy. In the late 1970's, a would-be criminal would need direct access to the actual computer terminal. This is because the most computer crime of that time actually involved hardware sabotage and theft, rather than a more software oriented problem. In the late 1970s and early to mid 1980s, computer crime had elevated a notch with the advent of the inter-schiool network. This network was a connection of several major universities through modem lines. Educated computer users were now changing each others ideas and information, but not for the malicious, but instead for the better. The mid to late 1980s saw the rise of computer "hackers" such as Kevin Mitnick. kevin Mitnick was caught at least a half dozen times, with the charges ranging from criminal tresspassing to fraud. Mitnick had broken into several corporations' servers,n one being the well reknowned Sun Microsystems. When he was arrested Mitnick beca me a martyr and a heron to many teenage computer enthusiasts. These teens would be determined to carry on the symbolic spirit, or what they thought to be, of Kevin Mitnick. However, the computer crimes that thses users perpatrate cost small businesses and corporations millions each year, put restraints on legitimate computer users and still remain an extremely dangerous, costly and virtually unstoppable crime.