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Cybercrime: An International Crisis

By: Thomas Brown, Juan F. Espinoza, Melissa Esquivel, Lizette Garcia, Manuela Gonzalez, Flor Hernandez, and Melissa Vasquez

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History: World Wide Web• The World Wide Web was introduced

in 1991. Today, approximately a third of the world’s population utilizes the internet at one point or another. With its magnificent expansion, came practicality and a revolution to the operation of day to day operations.

• Real GDP per capita has risen by $500 over the last 15 years in countries that utilize the internet ("The UK Cyber," 2011).

• With such practicality, a hidden cost came associated with the expansion of the World Wide Web. Through the utilization and expansion of the World Wide Web, the world was introduced to cybercrimes.

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History: Cybercrimes

Cybercrimes are more difficult to track than street crimes due to the fact the cyber crooks can erase all of his/her steps, leaving no trace behind.

Types of Cybercrimes: Cyber bullying Piracy Malware Phishing Child Pornography Identity Theft

It is extremely difficult for law enforcement to implement laws to prosecute on those who commit cybercrimes due to jurisdiction.

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Offenders make a rational choice to enter into a specific criminal activity by weighing the costs and benefits of doing so and acting if the benefits outweigh the costs.

 

An offender will engage in a criminal activity if possible benefits from the act outweighs possible adverse effects.

 

The theory establishes normalcy among criminals and even proposes the idea that the criminals relies on their intelligence in deciding to commit a crime.

Elements of Rational Choice Theory

Reasoning criminal

Crime specific focus

Independent evaluation

Rational Choice Theory

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Durkheim- Anomie theory

Merton- Classic strain theory

Anomie theory refers to the breakdown of norms in society. This breakdown leads to normlessness and explains higher rates of crime.

Classic strain theory focuses on the inability of an individual to achieve goals, and how an individual will do what it takes to “succeed”, even if it involves illegitimate means.

A person’s inability to attain the goals set by society, it leads to anger and frustration and leads them to nonconformity (Konty, 2005).

Durkheim and Merton have expressed that deviance is anticipated in a society where social expectations are out of balance with realistic opportunities to attain a desired aspiration (Passas, 2000).

Strain/Anomie Theories

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Nigeria ranks as 3rd with 5.9% of the world’s cyber crime perpetrators (Adomi & Igun, 2007).

The Nigerian 419 scams are cybercrimes where criminals seek monetary gains by using emails to defraud people.

Advance fee fraud is a popular computer crime in Nigeria, also known as 419 scams, named after the number used to describe that particular crime, which is obtaining goods by pretences’ (Salu, 2004).

A letter is formulated and sent to recipients by promising some form of compensation once they receive the money being requested by the victim.

The perpetrators use Western Union Money Transfers because it is almost an immediate way to collect the money, and they can use false identification documents to obtain the money (Salu, 2004).

Strain/Anomie in Nigeria (Cont.)

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Nigeria’s poor economy has left many of its citizens unemployed, and desperate to attain some type of income; 419 scams are an easy way to obtain money.

Nigerian law enforcement has neglected to enforce cyber crimes (Adomi & Igun, 2008).

Nigeria’s economic condition puts the nation in an anomic state, and the high unemployment rate has led to strain, which has led many to become innovative by obtaining money illegitimately. The inaction by law enforcement has caused a breakdown of norms.

Strain/anomie in Nigeria

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Gottfredson and Hirschi’s (1990) theory

Self-Control theory- is part of the decision making, and human beings are rational to weigh the possible pleasures and pain of the consequences.

Elements of self-control:

People with low self-control- crime=immediate gratification

People with high self-control- defer gratification.

Crime –is an act of force or fraud that an individual pursues in the self-interest pleasure. Individuals with low self-control may see crime as presenting immediate pleasure.

Low Self-Control-is an individual’s persistent inability to resist temptation of crime.

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Characteristics of low-self control

Impulsiveness and insensitivity

Attraction for easy tasks, risks, and physical activities

Little long-term planning

Those characteristics may affect the calculation of the consequences of an individual’s acts.

All of the characteristics of low self-control tend to show themselves in the absence of nurturance, discipline, or training.

The causes of low self-control are negative rather than positive

Video PiracyGlobal crime

Branches out from digital piracy which is defined as “the illegal copying and/or downloading of copyrighted software (such as Microsoft Windows, Microsoft Office, and other copyrighted programs), music, video, or other digital material (MP3s, Hollywood movies, and digital audio books among others) (Al-Rafee & Cronan, p.249)”.

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Examples of Low Self-Control

Higgins’ 2005

Utilizing a nonrandom sample of university students and measures of low self-control, software pirating peers, software pirating attitudes, and moral beliefs towards software piracy, the results demonstrate that low self-control had a significant link with software piracy.

Burrus, Bossler, and Holt’s (2012)

The authors applied an equation modeling to determine if both the direct effect of low self-control and indirect effect using a fuller measure of the social learning process on software piracy. The results showed that there indirect effects of self-control through the social learning process on piracy was greater than its direct effect. Also, as the levels of low self-control increased, the probability of software piracy decreased when controlling for social learning process.

Video PiracyPonte (2008) explains that “in recent years, the movie industry seems to be producing yet another disaster film-Global Movie Piracy, starring menacing theater cammers, devious downloaders, and corrupt optical disc manufacturers (p.331-32)”.

Motion Picture Association of America (MPA) has estimated losses of about $18 billion dollars (Ponte, 2008).

Bootleggers vs. Illegal CopyingBootleggers are those who record live movies in an actual theatre which may or may not include the assistance of a cinema employee and later sending it to 2nd and/or 3rd party that will reproduce onto a disc and distribute it to various points (Ponte, 2008).

Illegal copying consists of copying movies straight from a DVD, VHS, and/or video CD (Ponte, 2008).

Video PiracyBeing that video piracy has become a lucrative business, numerous measures have been taken into account to stop the illegal production and distribution of movies from legislative action to law suits yet the constant battles between the movie industry and honest consumers make it difficult to establish laws against this cybercrime.

Social Learning Theory & Video PiracyAkers’ social learning theory is used to explain the reasons why people commit crimes such as video piracy.

The basic argument presented here is the fact that in order for video piracy and other cybercrimes to occur, people have to learn how to use a computer (Morris, 2012).

The process of learning according to Akers (Akers et al., 1979), includes the process of observing, imitating, modeling, and having the behavior reinforced. From this point on, behaviors will continue to occur depending on the positive or negative reinforcements they may have.

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According to Brenner (2011) The United States Patriot Act has added a subsection which allows the U.S. government to exert extraterritorial jurisdiction to prosecute cybercrimes outside the jurisdiction of the United States if certain criteria are met. (p.68).

1. the offense is committed by anyone accessing a device controlled by financial institutions or other entities within U.S. jurisdiction

2. the individual transports or is in the possession of an article used to commit the offense within U.S. jurisdiction

Extraterritorial Jurisdiction & Cybercrime

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18 USC 1028 includes offenses such as fraud & related offenses that involve identification documents, authentication features, and information

Examples of offenses that violate 18 USC 1028 include but are not limited to:

-Credit card skimming

-Identity theft/fraud

-Bank fraud

(n.d.). Retrieved from http://www.law.cornell.edu/uscode/text/18/1028

18 USC 1028

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• Akers, R.L., Krohn, M.D., Lanza-Kaduce, L., & Radosevich, M. (1979). Social learning and deviant behavior: A specific test of a general theory. American Sociological Review, 44(4), 636-655.

• Al-Rafee, S., Cronan, T.P.(2006). Digital piracy: Factors that influence attitude toward behavior. Journal of Business Ethics, 63, 237-259.

• Burruss, G.W., Bossier, A., & Holt, T. J. (2012). Assessing the meditiation of a fuller social learning model on low self-control’s influence on software piracy. Crime & Delinquency, 20 (10), 1-28. doi: 10.1177/0011128712437915.

• Cullen, F., & Agnew, R. (2011). Criminological theory: Past to present. (4th ed.). Oxford, NY: Oxford University Press.

• Gottfredson, M.R., & Hirschi, T. (1990). A general theory of crime. Standford, CA: Standford University Press.

• Higgins, G. E. (2005). Can low self-control help with the understanding of the software piracy problem? Deviant Behavior, 26, 1-24. Doi:10.1080/016396204904979747

• Ponte, L.M. (2008). Coming attractions: Opportunities and challenges in thwarting global movie piracy. American Business Law Journal, 45(2), 331-369.

References