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Edward H. Freeman
The development and widespread use of the Internet and E-mail has changed the methods by which organizations distribute information. The Internet has also exposed organizations to new types of criminal activity, including privacy and copyright violations, fraud, libel, and several forms of industrial espionage. This chapter discusses the legal and ethical aspects of crime on the Internet and offers specific, practical suggestions that organizations and individuals can use to reduce potential problems.
Within the last five years, the Internet has developed into an efficient and inexpensive method to distribute and receive information. Organizations can conduct business on an instantaneous basis throughout the world. People around the world who have special interests can learn new skills, discuss common concerns, and exchange information quickly and informally.
Unfortunately, problems with criminal activity and privacy have been created with the development of the Internet. Long-time users are often disturbed with the rapid growth of the Internet. The Internet...is becoming a tacky bazaar of junk mail, small-time scams, and now, lawyers and lawsuits.1 The rapid development of the Internet and E-mail technology has created new legal ramifications for traditional criminal law.
This chapter discusses the development and current condition of the Internet. Criminal activity and how the courts and other government agencies have related this activity to the Internet and E-mail are addressed. The chapter defines what is necessary to prove or disprove charges of criminal activity on the Internet. Such associated issues as privacy, fraud, and copyright infringement, are also discussed. Examples from court cases are offered, as well as specific, practical steps that both organizations and individuals can take to reduce or prevent potential problems.
The Internet was born during the mid-1970s from an attempt to connect a Defense Department network with a series of radio and satellite networks. To transmit a message from one computer to another, the sender simply had to address the message correctly and send it over the network. The communicating computers, not the network, were responsible for ensuring that the communication was successfully completed.2
The development of inexpensive desktop computers and workstations has changed the scope of the computer and communications market. Organizations now expect the capability to transmit large quantities of documents and data. Certain communications (e.g., business and medical documents) must be transmitted confidentially. Other Internet items (e.g., commercial databases, bulletin boards and advertising materials) are designed to be readily available to the public. Transmissions require a technology that screens unauthorized users and charges authorized recipients for the services that are provided. Users frequently use different brands and models of computers and operating systems, so the network must be capable of operating on numerous systems.
The Internet transmits messages between users on many networks. Communications are sent between users on the individual networks, and the Internet is used to establish the proper connection.
The Internet is not a corporation. Authority for Internet operations and policy rests with the Internet Society (ISOC), a voluntary membership organization whose purpose is to promote information exchange on the Internet. ISOC has directors who work to standardize technology and allocate resources. The Internet Architecture Board and the Engineering Task Force are volunteer organizations that establish communication and network standards for the Internet. The Community Emergency Response Team serves as a central clearinghouse to which incidents can be reported. Individual networks and their management contribute their experience and ideas to develop Internet standards. If a network accepts Internet standards and considers itself so, then it will be a part of the Internet.3
Access to the Internet is open to anyone with a computer and a modem. The Internet itself does not collect fees from participating networks nor from individual or corporate users. Member networks establish their services and collect fees from users. Users pay the networks directly for Internet access.
The Internet is designed so that the individual user can get desired information easily, even though the request for information may pass through several networks. The user does not need any special computer background and is often unaware of the complexity of Internet communications.
Organizations and individuals pay for access to a regional network, which in turn pays a national provider for access. Internet service, of course, is not free, but occasionally the fees are not directly passed on to users, especially when government or advertising is involved. Fees are paid to the individual network or data provider, not to the Internet. Currently more than 20 million Internet users exist throughout the world, and use is growing at a phenomenal rate.
E-mail allows individuals and organizations to send messages to each other. Many corporations, government agencies, and universities have introduced E-mail as an efficient alternative to the paper flow that clogs their mail rooms. Recipients of E-mail can read and delete messages without printing them. This procedure eliminates much of the clutter created by paper documents.
E-mail is frequently used for correspondences not related to business. Few employers would object if an employee occasionally sends personal messages to co-workers on the office E-mail system. A more serious question is whether an organization has the right to read an employees E-mail and take disciplinary or legal action based on its contents. In the business environment, employees have been fired when their employers read their E-mail messages. [+]4 Who owns E-mail sent through an organizations network: the writer, the recipient, or the organization? Can an organization routinely monitor messages transmitted over the network?
Outside the business environment, problems related to E-mail security also exist. At the 1994 Winter Olympics in Lillehammer, Norway, three American reporters logged on to figure skater Tonya Hardings E-mail account in the Olympic villages computer service. Although they did not read any messages, serious problems with privacy and journalistic integrity were brought into public forum.5
The word privacy does not appear anywhere in the U.S. Constitution. The Fourth Amendment provides that: The right of the people to be secure in their persons, houses, papers and effects, against unreasonable searches and seizures, shall not be violated, and no warrants shall issue, but upon probable cause, supported by oath or affirmation, and particularly describing the place to be searched, and the persons or things to be seized.
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