Research Paper on Cybercrime

Introduction

Internet was introduced sometimes back, and it presents with various advantages to the users. The increasing advantages of the internet make it pleasing to many people. As a result, the number of people using the internet on a daily basis continues to arise. The increase is also attributed to the social sites where people can interact in a virtual environment and communicate with one another (Farrell, & Birks, 2018). The communication role attracts new users each day. Unfortunately, some of the users do not understand the potential threats they are likely to encounter from the internet use. For instance, some people may come across non-useful materials such as pornographic material which is harmful especially to the youths.

Is your time best spent reading someone else’s essay? Get a 100% original essay FROM A CERTIFIED WRITER!

Order now

Additionally, lack of proper security measures caused by lack of awareness also contributes to the increasing threats resulting from the internet use (Udris, 2016). However, the global integration works to ensure that internet users are safe and can only surf contents they have strategically planned to access. On the other hand, total inhibition of the cyber threats cannot be achieved 100% because the perpetrators use new techniques from day to day. The uniqueness and dynamic nature of the techniques used by the cyber offender limit the application of the international policies (Moore, 2014).

Educating the public on the threats of cybercrime is an important and essential step of reducing the negative effects associated with the experience. The awareness ensures that the users keep their accounts safe by having secure passwords and being cautious with the people they interact with online considering that some of them are unscrupulous and uses the internet to propagate their criminal purposes (Brewer, Cale, Goldsmith, & Holt, 2018). The reason why the internet has become a good harbor for getting criminal victims is that there are many people using internet on a daily basis and some of them are innocent and naive; they have limited understanding of cybersecurity. Therefore, educating the public will help sensitize them to be cautious and avoid being caught up by the tricks users by the cybercrime offenders (Jaishankar, 2018).

The address of the cybercrime threats can also be explored from the theoretic perspective. Various theories exist that explain why cybercrime exist; therefore, the international bodies associated with cyber criminology can apply the theories in developing reliable and ethical regulation and policy framework that prevents the penetration of the criminal act. For instance, the social learning theory and the routine activities theory among others are the commonly used ones in the explanation of the incidences of cybercrime; however, their applications have not been fully developed (Jaishankar, 2018). Additionally, the space transition theory explains the nature and behaviors of the individual engaging in the cybercrime. According to the space transition, people's behaviors vary from one person to another when they move from one space to another. However, it is important to note that not all people occupying a similar space behave similarly. There is a need to explore the concept of cyber criminology from the global perspective further to understand its scope of operation for easy development of appropriate measures to curb it(Jaishankar, 2018).

According to Prashant, Sodhi, Singh, and Bansal, internet use continue to grow from day to day, and it has become accessible due to its great importance. On the other hand, the combination of the increasing usage and the global threat requires that legal responses are developing to address the possible harms likely to be caused in the society (Brown, 2015). There is a need to identify both the criminal and their territorial competences to effectively fight the increasingly global threat. Identification of the internet offense perpetrators is still a major challenge in the current society, and this has made it difficult to fully impose the legal responses to the threat. The anonymity presented by the internet challenges both the police involved in the investigation and the judicial principles of the individual nature of the penalty. There is a need to develop adequate measures to counter cyber threats (Gillespie, 2015).

The cybercrimes go hand in hand with the political goals and demands; as a result, this poses a major challenge in addressing the issue fully. The liberal democracy is based on the fact that people have the freedom to debate their political views and the messages presented on the internet. The greatest challenge emerges when the states are incapable of reaching the agreement of the universal definition of the crime. The cybercrime is a concept that has been discussed widely with some scholars arguing that it should only be limited to the cyber-attack which are done by the terrorists. On the other hand, some scholars contend that it ought to involve all the use of the internet for terrorism only.

Digital Piracy and Illegal Downloading

New technology and the ubiquity of the internet has led to the world getting more connected than ever. The internet increment across the world is rapid. This has been seen to be more helpful. However, it has come with negative implications too. Cybercrime, software piracy, illegal downloading, hacking and cyberbullying are some of the negative vices. Illegal downloading has led to problems such as copyrights and loss of large amounts of money from companies. Hacking can pose security problems and also devastating to individuals, companies, or countries alike. Illegal downloading of software, movies, and most music has become an issue of concern. Some studies have tried explaining downloading and online piracy, and they include the social learning theory and self-control theory. According to Hinduja and Ingram (2009), real-life association with deviant peers was the biggest predictor of music piracy. Peers go online, find a copy of a movie and download it for free, download a Cd illegitimately under these circumstances. As a result, the social learning approach associates deviant peers with an increased likelihood of committing software crimes, movie or music piracy. Research concerning digital piracy and self-control is scarce and often done in conjunction with social learning theory. The peers would go to the website with the intention of downloading the CD under this circumstance (Patney, 2017). This does not specify whether the CD is a movie, music or software. Thus the author encompassed all the possible types of digital piracy, and at the same time being difficult to differentiate them. Thus, low self-control and the impulsivity subscale are significantly associated with the intention of illegal privacy.

Hacking

Hacking, which originally had a positive connotation and was attributed to individuals with exceptional skills for being able to hack or find shortcuts, has been distorted. According to Yar 2005, it is the government's law enforcement and the media who construct hacking as a criminal activity and thus adds to the negative connotation. Social learning theory has been used frequently to analyze hacking. According to Skinner and Fream 1997,measurements of hacking included items such as ;''tried to guess another password to get into his or her computer files or account'',''accessed others' computer account or files without his or her knowledge'', and '' wrote or used a program that would destroy someone's computerized data such as a virus, logic bomb or Trajan horse). Both differential association and differential reinforcement/punishment are both significant predictors of the aforementioned hacking behaviors.

Besides the social learning theory, self-control theory has also been frequently used to study hacking; It is most widely used in criminology. While some hackers argue that being a hacker means having self-control, discipline, and commitment to learning systematically. However, previous studies have shown that there is no connection between self-control and hacking intentions. A group of researchers however strongly suggest that there i...