Internet Predators a Growing Problem

http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2009/03/23/AR2009032300798.html


Internet predators have been a growing problem over the last decade. The problem that government agencies are facing now is that these predators are becoming more careful now that they know people are out there undercover, looking for them.

Some think that there should be more government agents put on these task forces that go undercover and arrest predators, but naturally this comes with a downside of less people being available for other jobs.

There seems to be a continuing theme that I am encountering in writing these blogs where criminals are using technology to do bad things and the government is always a step or a few steps behind in trying to find a way to control it. Hopefully there is an end to this chase soon where predators will stop preying on children instead of finding other ways to do it.

Australian Police = Hackers?

http://news.cnet.com/8301-1009_3-10191514-83.html

The Australian police are trying to get a piece of legislation passed that will give them the right to hack into people's computers for up to 28 days with a search warrant. This is something that they feel will put them on an equal ground with the criminals out there in this ever changing world of technology that we live in.

This is something that is almost becoming necessary due to the scary world we live in; but at the same time it's scary that the government would have the ability to do this. Granted they will need a search warrant to hack into your computer to see everything you do, but it's almost like it's a slippery slope once you start there.

I hope for the people of Australia's sake and for the people of the world's sake that this will be done on a very honorable basis and this power will not be abused.

Pirate Bay Founders in Trouble

http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/technology/7919674.stm


The well-known file sharing network 'The Pirate Bay' might be nearing the end of its run. The founders of the site are going under trial for facilitating copyright infringement on their site. The Pirate Bay offers free downloads of movies, songs, albums, documents, video games, etc. The men have earned at least 104,000 euros during their run from donations and advertisements and the industries that are making these claims of infringement say that the pirate bay has facilitated 10.1 million euros worth of downloads.

This case has been ongoing for a couple of weeks now and the new piece to the story is that prosecutors are trying to get a 1 year prison sentence as part of the punishment for these founders of the pirate bay. Considering how much money is on the table here, where they have facilitated 10.1 million dollars worth of downloads, it's amazing that worst case scenario for these guys right now is a 1 year prison sentence. This case really goes to show how far behind the law is lagging for internet related cases. Eventually, I think the law will catch up and the max sentence for these guys would have been something much higher.