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.

Cops tapping Facebook??

http://www.australianit.news.com.au/story/0,24897,25092895-5013044,00.html

The rapidly growing Facebook.com has been the latest thing on a very long list that law enforcement is looking to use as evidence against people in criminal cases. With facebook becoming as popular as a cell phone as a means of communication, it may not be all that unlikely to see people's facebook accounts being tapped by law enforcement in the very near future. I can see law enforcement's point of view here as they are looking to stay as in touch with the technology as the people they are trying to bring down are.
My question is: how stupid can people be? Are there really people out there talking in detail (or at all) about illegal activities over facebook? Apparently there are even though it seems amazing.

I think the biggest point to take out of this is that it would be really hard for law enforcement to use any of this facebook activity in a court room because it is so easy for electronic information to be messed with so it might be something that would get dismissed in court from the defendant's side.

Tough Economy Hits Online Health Care

http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2009/02/15/AR2009021501284.html

This article from the Washington Post is about how Congress has had a plan in the making which will make America's health care records available online. This plan has an estimated bill attached to it of about 150 Billion dollars.
As an economics major, I find this article interesting as it ties in the struggling times in our economy with an issue of internet law. I imagine that 2014 date will be pushed back, I don't know, maybe 10 years? That seems about right given our current crisis but who knows.
The issues that online health care creates is interesting as well. It will obviously need a very strong security so the information does not get into the wrong hands. Also, who decides who gets to see who's documents?
When this issue is more in the spotlight after this economic crisis passes it will be interesting to see how people react to this.
I personally am for online health care being available - but I am also for pretty much everything utilizing the internet. We have this technology at our disposal, so why not use it?

Online Pharmacies: A Growing Problem

http://www.grandforksherald.com/articles/index.cfm?id=105830

The above article details a pretty scary situation that is going on in North Dakota at the moment, but I'm sure the problem is even more widespread than this.
The number of people addicted to painkillers is rapidly on the rise and many of these cases are coming from people obtaining them online from bogus pharmacies.
It is a federal law that you cannot give out a prescription without an in-person doctor's visit but they have only been choosing to look at major cases thus far. I think with the rise of this problem that's about to change.
It's really scary if you think about it that things like this can happen.
What this story boils down to is: we need to learn to govern the internet better. Of course we are still in a transition phase where we are still getting used to this technology being a huge part of our society, but we need more laws governing this new world.

Facebook: Safe or not?

Facebook.com is used by millions of people around the world. It is becoming more and more popular each day.
What people don't know is the potential dangers that lie within the user agreement that I'm sure 90% of Facebook's customers never even read.
As a customer of Facebook.com you completely give Facebook the rights to all material you upload and post on the site. This really includes EVERYTHING. It would be terrible to see a company like Facebook take your ideas that you posted to the site and profit on them and then you wouldn't see a cent.
Not only this, but also all your material that you post on the site is totally not private. Everything including messages to other individuals is the property of Facebook.com and can be released at any time without your approval because you waived those rights by clicking 'I Accept' on the user agreement.
This brings me to my next point...
I think in this new age of technology it has become almost second nature to accept user agreements on many websites and softwares.
Users need to become more aware of what it is they are agreeing to because that is no different than signing a contract. You wouldn't sign a contract without reading it would you?
Hopefully these scary facts about Facebook.com makes people more aware about what they are doing on the internet.