How can we safeguard against the cybercrime - Essay Example

Written Assignment: Discussion Questions Some might say the crime of the 21st century will be white collar. If that is true, what will be the major types of cybercrime? How can we safeguard against it? In a nutshell, the FBI describes white collar crime as “lying, cheating, and stealing”. A number of scholars describe white collar crime as a nonviolent form of crime that is committed by people having technical or professional knowledge about a business or government operations and that uses deception with the sole purpose of gaining financially (Strader, 2001).

White collar crime is something that has elicited debate and mixed reactions from across the globe with many companies such as Enron and WorldCom going down as a result of it. Cybercrime is also part of white collar crime and is seen as the most sophisticated type of crime in the 21st century. There exist different types of cybercrimes and these include computer fraud, spamming, identity theft, hacking, and intellectual property theft. These crimes are committed through the use of computers as weapons, accessories, or sources of the crime, and are thus a creation of the 21st century (Benson & Simpson, 2009).

A number of nations and governments are working round the clock with specialized units to help in stopping cybercrime. However, the magnitude, scope, and complexity of these crimes are growing on a daily basis, and this makes it even more difficult to deal with them. The first and most basic way is to enact laws that cover cybercrimes and review them on a regular basis to protect people and businesses against cybercriminals (Wall, 2007). Secondly, companies must enact security policies so that each and every individual is able to account for his or her activities on the computer at the workplace.

An authorized access should be prohibited at all costs, and people should know of the costs of engaging in the crimes. Thirdly, both individuals and companies need to install hardware and software defenses which include antivirus, anti-spamming software, and firewalls to minimize external access to the organizations networks (Wall, 2007). Fourthly, international treaties and agreements must be made, and this is necessary because of the worldwide nature of the internet. In what ways should making money online have its limits?

For example, is pornography, online gambling, etc., fair game? What are the ethical considerations involved? Globalization is something that has brought a lot of good to the world and, at the same time, has increased problems. One of the results of globalization is the ability of people to make money while at home; the ability to work oversees while sited in the comfort of your home. However, there are a number of immoral commercial activities that take place in the internet. Money making should not extend to those activities that put others at risk or corrupt the minds of others.

Such is the result of activities such as pornography and online gambling. People engaging in activities over the internet have to engage in legal activities, which are for the benefit of the individual and the economy of a nation. When dignity, morals, and self-worth are lost as a result of these activities, then they are not beneficial at all (Cheeseman, 2012). Several ethical considerations are supposed to be made when engaging in these activities. First is individuals’ privacy, which is something that must be respected.

When engaging in such activities, privacy is lost and people often lack a sense of self-worth and dignity. Another ethical consideration is security both of individuals and the community. When people make money online through such activities, the identity theft and other cybercrimes are inherent (Tavani, 2011). Due to the nature of the activities, it is difficult to ensure security of transactions, and thus no one is liable for losses. A third ethical issue is morality; many people, including children, access the internet and they want to engage in such activities that generate money.

The problem is that the information is not filtered and thus corrupts the morals of children who may want to engage in the activities. Information is thus available to them, and they can receive help from the perpetrators, and this increases the risk of their exposure to such immoral acts (Cheeseman, 2012). If I post a poem on my Facebook site and someone cuts and pastes it on their site is that a case for stealing my intellectual property? Intellectual property refers to the creations of the mind.

Everything original that a person creates in his or her mind warrants to be called intellectual property and is supposed to be safeguarded with all the care it deserves. Intellectual property falls broadly into two categories: industrial property and copyright. Industrial property includes trademarks, patents, and the industrial designs that are used specifically for the purposes of commerce (Holland, Reed, Lee, Kimmel, & Peterson, 2007). These may be owned by one company, a group of companies, or even the employees, and are very important for the business transactions, hence the need to keep them confidential.

Copyrights include artistic and literary works produced by individuals, and this may include such things as poems, musical works, films, photographs, paintings, drawings among others. Intellectual property rights are, therefore, concerned with the protection of these creations to ensure that they are kept confidential and that their use is subject to the approval of the owner (Schwabach, 2007). A poem that is posted on Facebook is still a creation of the mind that was made by an individual with the purpose of entertaining others.

The poem thus falls under the copyright category of the intellectual property and should be respected just like any other creation of the mind. The person who came up with the poem is an artist, and his or her work needs to be respected as much as the work not copyrighted at that moment. Copying such a poem and pasting on another site warrants intellectual property theft, because the information is not your creation. In such a situation, if the poem has to be used on the particular site, then the individual using it has to acknowledge the poet and mention his or her name at the end of the poem.

In this way, he attributes the poem to the author, and the chances of being liable for copyright infringement will be low as compared to when it is copied without acknowledgement. References Benson, M. L., & Simpson, S. S. (2009). White-collar crime: An opportunity perspective. London: Taylor and Francis. Cheeseman, H. R. (2012). Business Law: legal environment, online commerce, business ethics and international issues. London: Pearson Education. Holland, C. J., Reed, D. M., Lee, S. H., Kimmel, A. I., & Peterson, W. K. (2007).

Intellectual property: Patents, trademarks, copyrights and trade secrets. New York: Entrepreneur Press. Schwabach, A. (2007). Intellectual property: A reference handbook. Santa Barbara, California: ABC-CLIO. Strader, K. J. (2001). Understanding white collar crime. Retrieved May 28, 2012, from http://www.lexisnexis.com/lawschool/study/understanding/pdf/WhiteCollarCh1.pdf Tavani, H. T. (2011). Ethics and technology: Controversies, Questions and Strategies for ethical computing. New York: John Wiley& Sons. Wall, D. (2007).

Cybercrime: The transformation of crime in the information age. Cambridge: Polity press.