Computer Crime issues have become high- profile, particularly those surrounding hacking, copyright infringement through warez, child pornography, and child grooming. There are also problems of privacy when confidential information is lost or intercepted, lawfully or otherwise.

From Wikipedia.


Cybercrime on the Rise

The threat of cybercrime is rising sharply, experts warn at the World Economic Forum in Davos. Some Quotes from the BBC story about the forum:

“Online theft costs $1 trillion a year, the number of attacks is rising sharply and too many people do not know how to protect themselves…”

“‘This is not vandalism anymore, but organised criminality,’ a panellist said, while another added that ‘this is it is not about technology, but our economy.’”

“In the United States, a ‘virtual’ group had managed to hijack and redirect the details of 25 million credit card transactions to Ukraine. The group used the data to buy a large number of goods, which were then sold on eBay.”

‘But several panellists worried about the heavy hand of government. The internet’s strength was its open nature. Centralising it would be a huge threat to innovation, evolution and growth of the web. ‘The amount of control required [to exclude all risk] is quite totalitarian,’ one of them warned.”

from: http://www.britannica.com/blogs/2009/02/cybercrime-on-the-rise/

In my opinion, the government is responsible and should have a long term plan to fight and control over the increasing threat of cybercrime.

I also agree with 1 of the responder comments...

" With any new technological progression, there are always individuals who will attempt to utilize it for the exploitation of others. This is a trend that unfortunately will never change. This is a difficult issue because we all want that sense of security and safety while online, yet we do not want our rights to privacy/freedom of speech/etc infringed upon.

I do believe that eventually we will be able to implement a system which maintains the safety of users without compromising their individual rights or personal freedom. But having said that, I also believe that the only way that such a system can be created is through an enormous amount of trial and error; which will most likely result in many unfortunate occurrences for internet users. It is only through failure that we as a society can progress. Have to break a few eggs to make an omelet I guess. "