Cyber Security: Regulations of Social Networks - Research Paper Example

Social networking is one of the most influential developments on the internet mainly because it affects the lives of a large number of people in the world. It is fast becoming a major source of communication, news and entertainment, with many people relying on it to get news from all over the world, to do market research, to put up adverts and to keep in touch with one another over great distances. Social networking has developed on the internet and it has become big business for those who run these companies since they not only charge people to pay to advertise on their websites, but many have also developed the tendency of selling the personal information of their users to other commercial companies. While social networks continue to grow in popularity, there arises the need to monitor them because their growth also has the potential of increasing the potential of cybercrime. The necessary structures to ensure that there is the policing of social networking sites have yet to be put in place and this is because of the right of individuals to their privacy. While this is the case, the lack of policing social networks ensures that they are a haven for cyber criminals and a danger to the society, meaning that law enforcement officers have to be involved in monitoring these sites. Such monitoring should be allowed especially when they are investigating crimes, in which case they should not be required to obtain a warrant, because doing so might hamper the course of their investigations. One of the reasons why law enforcement officers should be allowed to monitor social networking sites when conducting investigations is because there are sexual predators that use these sites to get their victims, especially children. These criminals lure children to give them information about themselves or make them send pictures of themselves, whether in the nude or otherwise, with evil intent (Pemberton 20). In addition, there are also the cases of children being allowed to access social networking sites from quite a young age. These children end up becoming exposed to inappropriate material within social networks and these vary from explicit material, violent content including videos, pictures and writings. These are very harmful to a child because they may not only lead to a child being molested by predators, but may also lead to him display inappropriate behavior due to the watching of pornography. It is therefore necessary for law enforcement to monitor such sites without warrants to ensure that these children are kept safe from people and material that may be harmful to them. In addition, children tend to come to harm in cases where the child becomes a victim of cyber bullying from their friends and other internet users. For example, this is where children may circulate images or videos of their friends or peers to others in school or online; thus, the child becomes victimized by others. Cyber bullying is a crime, which is becoming more rampant every day, with the victims being psychologically scarred some even going as far as committing suicide. When investigating such cases, and to ensure that there is a lessening in their occurrence, law enforcement has to be allowed to conduct its investigations without the need for warrants, to ensure that the perpetrators of such crimes are caught and brought to justice. A danger that constantly faces many people today is their activity in social networks such as Facebook and MySpace, which have become extremely popular and that can be accessed through any mobile device available to these people. Social networking sites have the main purpose of getting people to interact and share experiences online, and they have been designed in a way that they relatively easy to use and navigate through. It is for this reason that many of the people who use such networks have recently come to be extraordinarily attached to them. The danger from these networks arises from the fact that they are notorious for not being able to maintain the privacy of their users. This creates a situation where when individuals sign up for accounts within these networks, there is a high possibility that their personal information is going to be accessible to anyone in the internet. This becomes an open opportunity for cyber criminals who may target the banking information of individuals, and use their bank accounts as avenues for money laundering. Furthermore, there is a high possibility of such criminals stealing the identity of the innocent users of social networks. When the victims of cybercriminals report to law enforcement, it is necessary for the officers to act swiftly in order to catch the criminals involved. The time taken to attain a warrant might defeat this purpose because the criminals may have the time to wipe out all traces leading to them. There are those who insist that should also be internet regulations because even though the freedom of expression is a fundamental right to all, there are some people who tend to propagate agendas, which may be harmful to other people either within their own countries or without. Allowing law enforcers to monitor social networks can be considered a step towards the direction of the regulation of the internet. The investigations carried out by law enforcers ensures that the instances, in which people use social network sites to further agendas which are negative to the society, are reduced. For example, this is when some politicians propagate racist views on social networks claiming that their own race or ethnic group is far more superior to all the others. If a politician in a multiethnic and multicultural society, such as the United States does this, then there is a possibility that his statements will most likely cause friction between the different ethnic groups in this society. To prevent this, the law enforcement agencies of such a society should be extremely vigilant in monitoring such sites, so that whenever one attempts to post such statements, are caught, prosecuted and given stiff sentences to discourage others from doing the same. The law enforcement officers, in order to reduce friction between the ethnic groups in society, have to be allowed to monitor social networking sites without warrants since this will enable them to be more efficient in their work ("Extremist Calls Increasingly…"). Criminals have become confident enough in themselves to post information concerning their criminal activities on social networks. This has presented an opportunity for law enforcement officers to monitor their activities, and where possible, it has enabled their arrest and conviction. The need for officers to attain warrants before conducting investigations on social networks is not necessary because such networks are public domains, which anyone can join. In fact, social networks make the work of law enforcers easier because they are able not only to monitor the activities of criminals or suspected criminals, but it also enables them to build a psychological profile (Price). Such profiles also help them to predict the future activities of criminals and with such knowledge; they can work to preempt them. Gang related crime tends to be posted on social networks by gang members who often brag about their actions. Furthermore, these gang members tend to issue threats or declare their future intentions on their intended victims. In order to prevent these crimes from taking place, law enforcement officers, armed with the information from social network sites can take action to ensure that such crimes do not take place. They can catch the perpetrators of crimes in the act, or they can choose to protect the potential victims from the violence which is about to be meted out on them (Flores). When it comes to the matter of the investigation of crimes through social networks, a question that tends to rise from time to time is whether the involvement of law enforcement in such networks is justified. Some people believe that the law enforcement agencies are not justified in making investigations through social networking sites because to do so would be infringing on the right of people to freedom of expression. The main reason for this skepticism by the public is that there are no limits to the way in which law enforcement officers can conduct their investigations in such networks. There is often the fear that some officers may end up investigating innocent people who might end up being wrongly prosecuted and sentenced. While this might be the case, one also has to look at the positive aspects of such investigations being conducted. The monitoring of social8 networks has enable police officers either to catch criminals or to prevent crimes, especially violent ones, from happening. The patience, which these officers display, is highly commendable because some of the investigations, which are social network based, may take many months to complete. As a result, many good has been done for the society since officers have been able to contribute to a reduction of the rates of crime through social networking sites. Therefore, it can be said that it is not the means through, which criminals are caught, but the end that matters the most. Works Cited "Extremist Calls Increasingly Common in Blogs, Social Networks - Russian Police." BBC Monitoring Former Soviet Union Feb 01 2011ABI/INFORM Trade & Industry. Flores, Adolfo. "South Pasadena Police using Social Networks to Communicate with Residents, Fight Crime." Pasadena Star – News Oct 30 2010. Western Newsstand. Pemberton, Camilla. "Protecting Children In Care From The Internet's Wild Side." Community Care 1880 (2011): 20-21. Price, Marie. "Criminals use Social Networks to Stalk Victims; Police use them to Stalk Criminals." Journal Record Aug 14 2008. Western Newsstand. Read More