My decision on the Hacking case

If I am to decide on the Hacking Case, I view the the charged party, Leilani Garcia not guilty on committing “unauthorized access”. This is because Leilani Garcia used an authorize user account and password to access the system. Hacking only refers to unauthorized access or access without the knowledge and consent of the owner of the computer system. Leilani claims to use an account provided to her, I view that the co-accused Cesar Manalac liable for providing the account if the owner, Vivienne Tan, is not informed that the account is being used by Leilani or anybody in the organization. Hacking also refers to any access in order to corrupt, alter, steal or destroy using a computer or information and communication system. Our module did not state what Leilani did to the system of Thames International Business School. If Leilani had corrupted, altered or
destroyed the system or information on the system, I may consider it as hacking.

Laws controlling the use of computer technology

We are living a technological revolution; computer technology is changing everything – from education to health – from entertainment to making decisions. Does enforcement of laws on the control of the use of computer be adequate to protect our rights of interest? I believe not; computer technology is our age, and as such, we view the future with it. Computer Technology is our instrument for gathering information and knowledge which is our basic right. Regulating the use of computer technology in the form of legislation will slow down new inventions or new way of doing things. Computer technology means higher productivity which leads to people living quality time. Also, if our country will regulate the use of computer technology and other countries will not our goods and services will
become uncompetitive thus will increase unemployment.

With computer technology we are faced with complex questions regarding it use, but I believe that awareness followed by guidelines or ethical norms can combat foul use of the computer technology.

Definition of computer Crime. Three examples of computer crimes

What Constitutes A Computer Crime?

As presented in our module, I suppose that computer crime constitutes any unlawful act (any act that is against the law) in which a computer is a factor or knowledge of computer technology is used to commit the illegal activity.

Other Examples of Computer Crimes.

Child Abuse – Computer Crime

A study conducted by the National Center for Missing and Exploited Children found that 1 in 4 children between the ages of 10 and 17 have been exposed to unwanted sexual material online. Christina Long, 13, came to Danbury CT 2 years ago to live with her aunt, Shelly Rilling, because her parents had substance abuse problems. At her Catholic school, 6th-grader, she made good grades, led the cheerleading squad and was an altar girl. On the Internet, she used provocative screen names and routinely had sex with partners she met in chat rooms. Christina was strangled by a an undocumented immigrant from Brazil, Saul Dos Reis, 25, a married restaurant worker, she met on the Internet and had met with several times. He confessed and led police to her body in a remote ravine in Greenwich.

Internet Fraud
1. "Web Auctions - items bid for but never delivered by the sellers, value of items inflated, shills suspected of driving up bids;
2. General Merchandise - sales of everything from T-shirts to toys, calendars and collectibles, goods never delivered or not as advertised;
3. Internet Services - charges for services that were supposedly free, payment for online and Internet services that were never provided or falsely represented;
4. Hardware/Software - sales of computer products that were never delivered or misrepresented;
5. Pyramids/MLM's - schemes in which any profits were made from recruiting others, not from sales of goods or services to end-users;
6. Business Opportunities/Franchises - empty promises of big profits with little or no work by investing in pre-packaged businesses or franchise opportunities;
7. Work-At-Home Plans - materials and equipment sold with false promise of payment for piece work performed at home;
8. Advance Fee Loans - promises of loans contingent on the consumer paying a large fee in advance. Once the fee is paid, the loans are never disbursed;
9. Credit Repair - fraudulent promises to remove accurate negative information from a consumers credit report;
10. Credit Card Issuing - false promises of credit cards to people with bad credit histories on payment of up-front fees."


Trap Doors - Software Attacks

One classic software attack is the trap door or back door. A trap door is a quick way into a program; it allows program developers to bypass all of the security built into the program now or in the future. To a programmer, trap doors make sense. If a programmer needs to modify the program sometime in the future, he can use the trap door instead of having to go through all of the normal, customer-directed protocols just to make the change. Trap doors of course should be closed or eliminated in the final version of the program after all testing is complete, but, intentionally or unintentionally, some are left in place. Other trap doors may be introduced by error and only later discovered by crackers who are roaming around, looking for a way into system programs and files. Typical trap doors use such system features as debugging tools, program exits that transfer control to privileged areas of memory, undocumented application calls and parameters, and many others. Trap doors make obvious sense to expert computer criminals as well, whether they are malicious programmers or crackers. Trap doors are a nifty way to get into a system or to gain access to privileged information or to introduce viruses or other unauthorized
programs into the system. For example, in 1993 and 1994, an unknown group of computer criminals repetitively broke into systems on the Internet using passwords captured by password sniffers. Once on the system, they exploited software flaws to gain privileged access. They installed modified login and network programs that allowed them reentry even if the original passwords were changed. The detection of trap doors is an operations security problem--checking to see if the trap doors are there in the first place, and whether they exist and operations are correct on an ongoing basis.

References:
http://www.karisable.com/crpcyouth.htm
http://cse.stanford.edu/class/cs201/projects-98-99/computer-crime/index.html
http://www.oreilly.com/catalog/crime/chapter/cri_02.html

Issues discussed from 6 perspectives

Internet Pornography

Preliminary Theories:

1. Ethical Relativism

In Ethical Relativism, Pornography can be good or bad depending on the situation. Example, for some people ornography in the net is not considered immoral while for others it is a violation of decency and morality. The reasons for different conviction are due diverse cultural heritage, varied religious affiliation, prevailing social norms or distinct individual preferences.

2. Ethical Absolutism

In Ethical Absolutism an act can only be good or bad. If Pornography is bad, it would be bad at all incidents. In Ethical Absolutism there are universal rules that determine the right things to do.

3. Ethical Egoism and Ethical Altruism

Ethical Egoism - Internet Pornography is a way to make money.

Ethical Altruism - Internet Pornography is a contribution to art and Internet pornography is a contribution to e-commerce.

Finalist Theories
1. John Stuart Mill’s Utilitarianism

Pornography will be viewed either good or bad depending upon whether or not pornography brings happiness. Example, Internet Pornography is right when it promotes happiness and wrong when it endorses pain.

2. Immanuel Kant’s Categorical Imperatives

Imperatives would view pornography bad because of the duty to protect the women. They would not support internet pornography because it is morally wrong or it is the law but because mankind are destined to do so and mankind have to will it.

3. Aristotle’s Nicomachean Ethics

Pornography will be viewed as wrong because it is against moral values such as righteousness, fairness and goodess.