There are all types of laws out for when someone steals your credit card or social security number. But, in this day and age, now that technology has changed, there are really no laws out there for someone pretending to be you or, someone else for that matter, online. The constitution really needs to be updated due to the technological advances of the twenty-first century. Everything is happening online now-everything. Credit card numbers are stolen all the time on the World Wide Web. Why, because in my opinion it’s so much easier to steal a person’s critical information on line than anywhere else. You may not realize it but you’re constantly being watched while you surf the web and you’re in a constant state of being vulnerable, by everyone and everything. So where are the laws at to protect you? There really is not that much. Although there are a lot out for copyright infringement,  http://news.cnet.com/2010-1028-5131781.html which are hardly enforced, not really that much out that clearly helps the poor sap internet surfing at five o’clock in the morning clicking on everything in sight. With that being said, there are actually a nice amount of laws being thought of to protect children over the internet. Do they work? I’m not too sure because most of them have been deemed unconstitutional by the Supreme Court. http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/articles/A13111-2004Sep10.html, http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Children’s_Internet_Protection_Act, http://www.fcc.gov/cgb/consumerfacts/cipa.html

When people go online, they’re not only surfing the web but more than likely socializing to someone or multiple “someones.” Chat rooms can be a cesspool of deceit and trickery-a pedophile’s playground if you will. It’s so easy to be someone who you are not online because nobody can see or hear you (and I know what you’re thinking, “but Mani, there’s VoIP out now,” well, not everyone has it. People just barely started getting webcams so you can vote the majority of the population does not know what VoIP http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Voice_over_IP means let alone having the program.  http://register.skype.com/en-us-skype?cm_mmc=google/latsearch-_-NA-US|EN|STRCT-_-BD-_-kwid=JFT008286|creative=3014672189&JAWS=zhwyha&gclid=CPLo3bbxvpkCFQrFGgod-lXB5g. A lot of Teenagers go in to these chat rooms pretending to be older and a lot more mature, while a predator will be in the chat room pretending to be a lot younger. Which one is more dangerous you ask? They both are, but we all know which one is the lesser of the two evils. http://www.wpxi.com/news/3926711/detail.html. An unsuspecting child will go online make buddies with some creepshow, agree to meet with them somewhere and BAM a 50 year old man with a rape kit inside his car appears instead of the prince charming who you thought you were instant messaging and sending all those pictures to. You just might not know how to react. Now, I’m not saying this only happens to young girls, young boys are just as vulnerable and in danger. They are also tricked by some creep who claims he has an extensive Yu-Gi-Oh or Pokemon collection in his basement and that they should meet to compare cards over at his house. The little boy thinks he has a new friend then BAM you’re some creepy guy’s sex slave. http://www.highbeam.com/doc/1P1-49319527.html. I know I paint a very gloomy picture here but it is the truth. There are no laws protecting (I mean, really protecting) children or anyone for that matter from online predators. There used to be a show on MSNBC called “Dateline: To Catch a Predator,” and I remember when it first came out the men who were being caught were not being prosecuted for their attempted crimes. The only thing they had to face was the embarrassment of being shown on TV. Thank goodness that after a season or two these crazy, deranged men who showed up to have sex with a twelve-sixteen year old boy/girl were finally being brought to justice and it was all being televised. http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/10912603/

Identity fraud is just as dangerous online as it is in real life, maybe even more so. I say that because at least outside, in the real world, you’re tangible so to speak. But, online I don’t know anything about you, can not see or hear you, you’re a person, that much is true but still all I’m doing is just talking to a screen. I can be anybody I want to be online and who’s going to contest it. There was a case not too long ago that I was following about a young teenage girl who committed suicide because she was being tormented, harassed and bullied by a grown woman, who she thought was a boy that she liked after several instant messaging sessions. The woman would instant message her and post cruel things about the girl on her MySpace page while posing as the boy. The grown, very grown woman did all of this because her daughter and the young girl had a falling out and were not friends with each other anymore. So, the woman, Lori Drew, decided it would be a really cool idea if she made this young girl’s life a living hell-all up until the young girl couldn’t take it anymore and decided to end her life. Gee, not so funny and cool anymore. Why this woman got involved with two young thirteen year olds’ relationship is a question for the ages, which is a whole other story in and of it self. But, because this woman decided to bully and post untrue, very cruel things about the girl on her MySpace page it was considered to be unauthorized access to a computer and that’s it. http://www.nytimes.com/2008/11/27/us/27myspace.html Lori Drew was charged with 4 felony charges but had it brought down to only misdemeanor charges because of a lack of evidence, how sad right? This is a landmark case because of what’s involved, MySpace blogging and Instant Messaging without computer authorization and of course the big one Cyberbullying. http://blog.wired.com/27bstroke6/2008/12/jurors-wanted-t.html Hopefully this woman will be tried again for a landmark decision in this Cyberbullying case. And new laws will be created about online harassment, breaching an online contract of terms of service and interacting with a minor with harmful intentions. http://www.us-cert.gov/cas/tips/ST06-005.html

Pretending to be someone else in general is just wrong, even though it might be a harmless, innocent prank, it is still wrong. And it is very dangerous when practiced online. There definitely needs to be more laws out there protecting unsuspecting victims of internet crimes, who go online to have fun and to be entertained. For the most part people are very unaware of the laws they break every single day while surfing the internet and even if they are aware, they figure it’s the internet so it’s not really a law while online and if it is, who’s going to enforce it, the internet police? Bottom line is, we need more laws for the internet because it truly is Babylon. And people feel they’re in a completely different world while on the internet and have no idea of the dangers that lurk through it. They think they’re invincible, and let’s face it they’re right. http://www.informit.com/articles/article.aspx?p=717374

]]> http://chibibuddha.wordpress.com/2009/03/26/identity-fraud/feed/ 0 chibibuddha http://chibibuddha.wordpress.com/2009/03/26/identity-fraud-outline-punks/ http://chibibuddha.wordpress.com/2009/03/26/identity-fraud-outline-punks/#comments Thu, 26 Mar 2009 16:55:09 +0000 chibibuddha http://chibibuddha.wordpress.com/2009/03/26/identity-fraud-outline-punks/ ]]> Outline

I.                    Intro

A.      Broad Description of Identity fraud

1.       Pranks

2.       False names

B.      Identity Fraud Online

II.                  Jeopardizing your identity by putting info on unsecure websites.

A.      Credit card numbers

B.    Social Security numbers

III.                The law or lack there of…

A.      Socializing

1.       Instant messaging

a.       Chat rooms

B.      Meeting offline

1.       Pedophiles

2.       Statutory rapists

IV.                Cyber bullying

A.      Pretending to be someone else through social networks/ instant messaging

1.       MySpace, Face book, Twittering

a.       Blogging

B.      Lori Drew

1.       Land Mark Case

2.       Decision

V.                  Conclusion

A.      Why Internet is a dangerous place

B.      Where are the laws to protect us

Circa 1973, cell phones used to look like a big gray ugly walkie talkie thing, http://www.cellfanatic.com/wp-content/uploads/2008/05/history-of-cell-phones.jpg but if you had one I’m sure you were the envy in everyone’s eye. Nowadays, if you don’t have a cell phone it’s probably because you lost it, broke it or are in the process of getting a new one because the old one was getting on your nerves; everyone has a cell phone in this day and age. I must admit that the things you can do with a cell phone is pretty amazing-are they even for talking anymore? You tell me. Sidekicks, which I like to refer to as the “teenage” phone, primary function is not for talking, good God no, who talks on cell phones anymore, a sidekick’s primary function is for texting the crap outta someone. That’s why every little kid wants one. http://www.textually.org/textually/archives/2009/01/022462.htm Texting is so much easier than talking on the phone with someone and it is a lot more private. I can text you, instant message you (what the difference is anymore I don’t know), picture message you, video message you and if I’m leaving something out please feel free to educate me. But getting back to the point, any form of messaging you can think of I can probably do off my phone. Especially if I’m in class – I don’t have to pass you notes or anything and end up getting caught by the teacher. Even if I did get caught they probably wouldn’t be able to understand half the message anyway because, and people may not realize this, when you’re texting you’re speaking a completely different language; everyone’s the master of shorthand, acronyms and abbreviations now. It’s definitely a language that an older generation may not understand. When they look at a semi colon and a closed parenthesis they don’t see a smiley face, they simply see bad grammar and a bunch of nonsense. http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=T6K2H1cNOAw

If you’re not texting on your cell phone, it’s probably because you’re at home and are now on your computer. And, of course, you’re probably doing a bunch of stuff at once on your computer, but almost for certain one of those things are instant messaging somebody or somebodies. And since instant messaging someone (probably to their cell phone at that) isn’t enough, someone decided to let you see the person you’re typing away at, which then got a little creepy because neither person could hear the other, which is why they then got to thinking…why don’t we just let people talk face to face with each other on the computer, Thus the birth of Video Chat to the public (which is the coolest thing ever). Video chatting has to be the coolest form of communication via an electronic. Although I think this technological advancement brings back that sense of good ol’ fashion talking to a human being. Don’t get me wrong, of course when you’re texting you’re talking to a human being, but you don’t hear them you don’t see them, hell, you might not even be texting who you think you’re texting. http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=VBflm_S61Wg&feature=related But, with video chat I know who I’m talking to, I can see who I’m talking to, and even better I can hear who I’m talking to and speaking to all at once with no hands!  It’s pretty funny how a lot of people still do not have this feature on their computer but it’s the coolest thing you get to actually connecting with a human being in my opinion. http://digitalecologist.com/skype-vs-oovoo/ Maybe because the computer allows you to escape in to a completely different world and being able to see/ hear who you’re talking to breaks that sense of fantasy and brings you back to the real world.

A reason to why online gaming probably has taken off the way it did. http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/11981111 World of Warcraft is probably the most played game in the world right now even more than Halo (and Halo is the Sh..). Being able to escape in to that realm is relaxing, fun, and exciting. It’s like becoming a whole new you and the fun thing about it is-you’re not the only one, it’s a whole new community of people from across the globe and because of this whole new world, consoles had to step their game up (no pun intended).  Xbox, Wii, and PS3 all allow you to go online and play with a friend or just some complete stranger, which definitely enhances the gaming experience. Honestly, how cool is call of Call of Duty, Socom, Halo (Halo is the Sh..!) and even corny games like MarioKart or MarioKart? They are so much better because I can connect to the internet and play with a friend or some random person across the world. Growing up as an 80′s baby, I can tell you that I spent most of my time outside playing with friends on the block or in the street playing two-hand touch, but when the street lights came on, it was back in the boring old house – until gaming consoles started to warp my fragile little mind. Super NES, Sega, and Playstation all had way cooler graphics than their predecessors, Atari and Nintendo, and cooler graphics meant cooler games…right? Think of how scared you were when you played Resident Evil, or how hype you got when you were playing Street Fighter. The experience you got from playing these games were like nothing before. It was way better than going outside. Now imagine being able to play all of those classics online with friends. If playing  games back then was crack then imagine what it is now-better graphics, faster loading time, Wi-Fi, it’s like way better than crack now, which is why little  kids would rather stay inside, not eat, sleep, and bathe so they could play just a little longer and get just a little further in their game. When you’re in that mind frame you don’t want to talk, move, breathe, and blink or anything. All you wanted to do was play and crap those little fingers up. http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/technology/4137782.stm I haven’t played a real video game in 2 years and I still have my gamers’ thumb (if you don’t know what that means chances are you’re not a gamer).  The real question, though, is, is it better to have your kids mind slaves barely acknowledging reality, but off the streets safe inside the confides of their home or do you want them to go outside, get cuts and bruises from falling off of trees and playing around with real friends (not just some creep they met off line). Why has this behavior become more and more acceptable; to zone out into some fantasy world for the major portion of your day?

Let’s face it, not only little kids go online, adults play a big role in online activity also. People actually search for their “soul mate” online. Instead of going out to, oh, I don’t know, a bar, a library, your front door, maybe. http://www.drdating.com/online-dating/the-rise-of-online-dating.php People would rather sign up to some crazy website and put a whole bunch of crap about themselves on their profile, which is probably not true anyway, all just to meet up with some jerk and find out he/she was lying about themselves also for 49.95, than go outside and find a real person. http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/3078714/ It’s like the upgraded version of a blind date, except this version doesn’t include your friend, “hookin’ you up,” with some guy they know that lives down the hall from them. I mean, don’t get me wrong, networking online isn’t a bad thing at all, in fact, it’s a great thing. Myspace, Facebook, and even neopets & My Otaku (For the little kiddies) are a great way to keep in touch with old friends, new friends, family and a great way to market yourself. http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/5488683/ Social networking online is really great but still has to be taken with some precautions, which people growing up nowadays don’t seem to understand. Just last year a woman was found guilty of fraud for cyberbullying a 13 year old girl. http://www.nytimes.com/2008/11/28/us/28internet.html?_r=1 I thought to myself, “wow,”  because I didn’t realize the internet had gotten so crazy where I could bully you online, like some sort of AOL thug or something (and plus I’m from New York and we don’t “bully” over here). Why didn’t the girl feel the need to tell someone about what was happening to her? This generation of children is slowing becoming socially inept and private.

Society needs to get back to the basics. Just because technology is moving forward the way it is doesn’t mean that I can’t enjoy a walk in the park, a night out with my friends or simply a quick run to the grocery store. It’s gotten so bad that people order food online now. Like, are you serious? How things have changed, indeed. Not necessarily for the better either, if we keep it up a baby’s first word will be itouch http://www.apple.com/ipodtouch/ instead of “mama”,” dada”, or “donut.”