Crime, Media and Technology

CRIME MEDIA AND TECHNOLOGY

Name

Institution

Once the government published a cyber security strategy, they realized the United Kingdom's need to come up with an integrated approach for tackling internet threats and that of its associated technologies (Stephenson, 2000). Among the major parts in this strategy was that the United Kingdom should come up with a strategy for handling cyber crime. There are a number of offenses that a person can commit by using communication technology. Cyber crime is commonly considered as being in one of the following categories: new crimes committed through new technologies or old crimes committed through the use of new technology (Casey, 2011). In the former are offences such as breaking into a system to steal or alter data or hacking; in the latter are offences such as fraud or exchange of illegal images. The aim of this paper is to analyze some aspects of countering cyber crime and various impacts of technology in the field of criminology.

The list of individuals utilizing the internet reached fifty million after a four year span. Like any other technologies, it did not take a long time before criminals utilized computers and internet to commit crimes. However, as studies have indicated, the criminal justice system is not well prepared to handle this technological challenge. In fact, the gap between computer criminals and law enforcement grows bigger by the day (Yar, 2006). The criminal justice system might adapt the following strategies in order to counter cyber crime: by creating a hostile environment for the online criminals or raising the confidence of the public in the internet.

These two ways of handling cyber crime are different but focus on solving the same issue. The major difference between the two strategies is that the first one concentrates on the criminal while the second strategy focuses on the victim (Casey, 2011). However in both strategies the criminal justice system should have a clear understanding on the scope and scale of cyber crime and this includes the robust and easily accessible systems for both businesses and the public. The other similarity is that both strategies require specialized units and these units share information where it is appropriate. In addition to this, both strategies require effective collaboration with other countries, which have a well-developed capacity and understanding about the trending cyber crime. These two strategies by the criminal justice system could minimize cyber crime since it has become a great threat to any individual who uses the internet.

Human and drugs trafficking are among the world's biggest illegal businesses. Human trafficking is a profitable hidden industry that generates huge amounts of revenue every year. However, this industry is a crime against any human being. It involves acts of recruiting, transferring, transporting, receiving or harbouring an individual through the use of force with an intention to exploit them. This transnational crime affects every country worldwide either as a place of origin, destination or transit of the victims. On the other hand, drug trafficking is also a global, illegal trade that involves cultivation, manufacturing and selling of illegal drugs (Stares, 1996).

Technology has played a vital role in combating human and drug trafficking. The utilization of technologies such as a HTA (the Human Trafficking Awareness index) helps in tracking and analyzing news articles that are related to trafficking of people. This technology is effective since it highlights the patterns and trends of awareness across and within national borders. Activists who are working to combat the trafficking of humans can use this technology to highlight and increase awareness to gain better understanding of the news and inform their efforts. However, this is not adequate since it only increases awareness. The traffickers normally use technology to aid them in the trafficking business; therefore, technologies need to be developed to discover then prevent acts of human trafficking.

On the other hand, the technologies used to prevent drug trafficking range from installing body scanners inside the airport and setting up radars to detect air flights (Wyle, 2009). These methods have proved to be effective since these are the two major ways that drugs can enter into any country. However, drug prevention is a very hard thing to do since the traffickers use the revenue generated from the illegal trade to acquire sophisticated equipment that lets them communicate and carry out their businesses without being traced (Stares, 1996). However, the fight on human and drug trafficking requires interlocking international, regional and national strategies.

Online grooming refers to the actions deliberately undertaken by an individual with the intention of befriending and creating an emotional attachment with a minor , so as to lower the inhibitions of the child while preparing for sexual intercourse with that child. In order for anyone to groom a child, he or she must have a means to communicate with that child privately. Therefore, such individuals could be found in social networking sites or chat rooms.

There are two possible solutions to online grooming; one of them being a parent monitoring his or her child's activity online and the other solution can be the installation of an Anti-Grooming Engine that protects young individuals from external threats instead of limiting what they can view online (Clampet, 2011). The second option is a good solution for those children whose parents might not have the time to monitor their online activity. AGE adds more peace of mind to the parents who may not be conversant with the internet or may not have enough time to monitor the activities of their children. The need for such a technology was necessitated by two studies on both young peoples' and parents' views on the use of internet.

According to one study, the availability of anti bullying and anti paedophile technology is the most crucial factor when purchasing a computer (Clampet, 2011). This study also revealed that parents have a great responsibility of protecting their children from online bullying and grooming. The other study revealed that children are ignoring the safety warning and exposing themselves to risk online. Over half of the children surveyed admitted that they had given a photograph of themselves, their phone number or even their email to a stranger that they met online. The AGE application is installed at the level of the internet service provider and offers secure recordings of every online interaction. The application has heuristic techniques which spots possible grooming activities according to a matching pattern that it has developed. This