The Future Of Computer Crime In America :: essays research papers

The Future of Computer Crime in America The proliferation of home computers, and of home computers equipped with modems, has brought about a major transformation in the way American society communicates, interacts, and receives information. All of these changes being popularized by the media and the wide increased personal and private sector use of the Internet. All of these factors plus the fact of more and more business and government institutions are jumping to make the use of these services has put a much wider range of information at the finger tips of those, often select and few individuals whom know how to access, understand and use these information sources. Often times today this information is of a very sensitive and private nature on anything from IRS Tax returns, to Top Secret NASA payload launch information. Piled on top of that many times the individuals accessing these information sources are doing so by illegal means and are often motivated by deviant and illegal means. It is said that at any given time the average American has his name on an active file in over 550 computer information databases of which nearly 90% are online, and of the 550 databases the number comes no where close to how many time your personal information is listed in some database in an unactive file. The "Average American" could simply sit in his/her home doing nearly nothing all day long and still have his/her name go through over 1,000 computers a day. All of these vast information files all hold the crucial ones and zero's of data that make up your life as you and all others know it. All of these data bits, at the hands 100,000's of people. With little or NO central control or regulatory agency to oversee the safe handling of your precious little ones and zero's of information. As it would seem Arson Wells was little late with his title of "1984" . "BIG BROTHER" is INDEED WATCHING, US ALL and as it would seem our BIG BROTHER is alot bigger then Mr. Wells could have ever imagined. And that our BIG BROTHER is EVERYWHERE! The 100,000's of people that do have this information make up our modern BIG BROTHER in the form of government institutions to private advertising companies, these people are all the "trusted" ones who use our information everyday for legal and useful purposes but what about the others who use their skills and and knowledge to gain their "own" personal and illegal access to these vast depositories of information? These individuals popularized and demonized by the media are often referred to