QAs

Cybercrimes and Cybercriminals

 Stories involving computer crime have been highly publicized in the media.

 The media has often described computer criminals as “hackers”

 The media also sometimes portrayed hackers in the early days of computing as “heroes.”

 The public’s attitude toward computer crimes has evolved, mainly because of our increased dependency on the Internet.

A "Typical" Cybercriminal

 Some think of a typical computer criminal as a person who is a very bright, technically sophisticated, young white male.

 – E.g., as portrayed in the popular movie War Games.

 Donn Parker (1998) distinguishes between “hackers” (as nonprofessional or “amateur” criminals) and professional criminals.

A Typical Computer Criminal (continued)

 Parker clams that computer hackers, unlike most professional criminals, tend:

 not to be motivated by greed;

 to enjoy the “sport of joyriding.”

 He describes “typical computer hackers” as exhibiting three common traits:

 precociousness;

 curiosity;

 persistence.

A Typical Computer Criminal (continued)

 Forester and Morrison (1994) note that typical computer criminals can be:

 1. (amateur) teenage hackers;

 2. professional criminals;

 3. (once) loyal employees who are unable to resist a criminal opportunity presented by cybertechnology.

The Evolution of “Hacker”

 Pekka Himanen (2001) notes that the term “hacker” originally applied to anyone who:

 "programmed enthusiastically“;

 believed that “information sharing is a powerful positive good.”

 The term “hacker” now has a negative connotation.

Hackers vs. “Crackers”

 Himanen also notes that a hacker need not be a computer enthusiast.

 A hacker, in the original sense of the term, could be an “expert or enthusiast of any kind.”  E.g., someone can be an astronomy hacker.

 Hackers are now sometimes also distinguished from “crackers.”

Hackers vs. Crackers (Continued)

 The Hacker Jargon File defines a "cracker" as one “who breaks security on a system.”

 Crackers engage in acts of theft and vandalism, once they gain access to a computer.

“White Hat” vs. “Black Hat” Hackers

 Some use the expressions white hat and black hat (see for example, Wall 2007) to distinguish between the two types of hacking behavior.

 “White hat hackers" are described as engaging in “non-malicious” forms of hacking.

 “Black hat hackers" are viewed as engaging in behavior that is described above as "cracking."

Malicious Hackers and “Hacking Tools” on the Internet

 Michael Simpson (2006) notes that many malicious hackers do not possess outstanding technical skills, but know how to locate sophisticated “hacking tools” that can be downloaded from the Internet for free.

 Many of these individuals also know how to take advantage of “holes” in computer systems.

 Sophisticated programmers refer to these individuals as “script kiddies” or “packet monkeys” because they copy code from knowledgeable programmers as opposed to creating the code themselves.

Counter Hacking or “Hacking Back” (Active Defense Hacking)

 Can counter hacking or “hacking back” (at hackers) be justified?

 Counter hacking has been done both by individuals and corporations.

 Counter-hacking attacks are typically directed against those suspected of originating the hacker attacks.

Counter Hacking (Continued)

 Counter hacking can be either preemptive or reactive.

 Both forms are controversial, but preemptive counter hacking is more difficult to defend.

 Is counter hacking an act of self- defense, or is it simply another case of “two wrongs making a right”?

Counter Hacking (Continued)

 Because counter hacking can cause harm to innocent individuals, some question whether it can be defended on moral grounds.

 Himma (2008) notes that in cases of hacking back against distributed denial of service (DDS) attacks, many innocent persons are adversely affected because the attacks are routed through their computer systems.

Counter Hacking (Continued)

 Hackers can use the computers of innocent persons as “host computers” to initiate their attacks.  This technique is called “IP spoofing.”

 Victims assume that the attacks originated from the host computer, rather than from the actual computer that initiated the attack.

 So when victims hack back, they can unintentionally cause the intermediate computer to be assaulted by bogus requests for service.

Certified Ethical Hackers

 Certified Ethical Hackers (CEH) are trained and certified in counter hacking.

 Not only are they trained in the use of defensive measures by their employers, but at least some CEH also appear to be authorized to engage in security-related activities that involve preemptive strikes as well.

Certified Ethical Hackers (Continued)

 According to the Certified Ethical Hacker Web site (www.eccouncil.org/ceh.htm):

The goal of the ethical hacker is to help the organization take preemptive measures against malicious attacks by attacking the system himself; all the while staying within legal limits… an Ethical Hacker is very similar to a Penetration Tester…When it is done by request and under a contract between an Ethical Hacker and an organization, it is legal. [Italics Added]

Certified Ethical Hackers (Continued)

 Should it be legal to for Certified Ethical Hackers to engage in preemptive hacking attacks?

 Some who defend preemptive acts of counter hacking believe that they can be justified on utilitarian, or consequentilaist, grounds.

 E.g., they argue that less overall harm will likely result if preemptive strikes are allowed.

 However, it would seem that many of the same difficulties that apply to utilitarian arguments (see Chapter 2) would apply here as well.

Hacking and the Law

 Can some forms of traditional hacking be viewed as an expression of individual freedoms and thus be defended on Constitutional grounds in the US?

 Some advocates for “hacker’s rights” note that traditional forms of hacking played an important role in computer developments and breakthroughs.

 Many of today’s “computer heroes” and many successful entrepreneurs in the computer industry engaged in activities in the past that could be viewed as forms of hacking behavior (Jordan 2008).

Hacking and the Law (Continued)

 Non-malicious hackers enjoy support from civil liberties organizations and from many in the computer community.

 However, the government and business sectors view hacking activities in any form as an invasive activity.

 Many now see hacking as a form of trespass.  Current legislation against trespass in

cyberspace has taken the side of business, government, and law enforcement agencies.

Criteria for Determining Computer Crimes

 When is a crime a computer crime?

 There is problem of clearcriteria.

 Are all crimes involving either the use or the presence of a computer necessarily computer crimes?  E.g., Gotterbarn, in critiquing criteria used for

identifying computer crimes, asks whether a murder committed with a surgeon’s scalpel is an issue for medical ethics or just an ordinary crime.

Criteria for Determining Computer Crimes (Continued)

 Do we need a separate category of computer crime/cybercrime?

 Some crimes have involved technologies, but do not require separate categories of crime.

 Consider that people:

 steal televisions, but we don't have a category of television crime;

 use automobiles to commit crimes, but we don't have a category of automobile crime.

Criteria for Determining Computer Crimes (Continued)

 Review three hypothetical scenarios (described in the textbook):  Scenario 1: Shiela steals a computer device (e.g.,

a printer) from a computer lab;

 Scenario 2: Shiela breaks into a computer lab and then snoops around;

 Scenario 3: SHIELA enters a computer lab that he is authorized to use and then places an explosive device, which is set to detonate a short time later, on a computer in the lab.

Criteria for Determining Computer Crimes (Continued)

 Each of the acts described in the three scenarios is criminal in nature.  But should any of them be viewed as computer

crimes?

 One might argue that it would not have been possible to commit any of the three crimes if computer technology had never existed.

 But these criminal acts can easily be prosecuted as ordinary crimes involving theft, breaking and entering, and vandalism.

Defining Computer Crime

 Forester and Morrison (1994) define a computer crime as:

“a criminal act in which a computer is used as the principal tool.” [Italics Added]

 This definition rules out the crimes committed in our three scenarios as “computer crimes.”

 Is Forester and Morrison's definition of computer crime adequate?

Defining Computer Crime (Continued)

 Review another scenario (also described in the textbook) where Shiela uses a computer to file a fraudulent income-tax return.

 Arguably, a computer is the principal tool used by Shiela to carry out the criminal act.

 Has Shiela committed a computer crime?  She could have committed the same crime by

manually filling out a standard (hardcopy) version of the income-tax forms by using a pencil or pen.

Defining Computer Crime (Continued)

 Roy Girasa (2002) defines "cybercrime" as

a generic term covering a multiplicity of crimes found in penal code or in legislation having the "use of computer technology as its central component."

 What is meant by "central component?"

 Was a computer a central component in Shiela’s filing of the income tax return?

Towards a Coherent Definition of Cybercrime

 We define a (genuine) cybercrime as a crime in whichthe criminal act can:  be carried out only through the use of

cybertechnology, and

 take place only in the cyber realm.

 Like Forester and Morrison's definition, this one rules out the three scenarios involving the computer lab as genuine cybercrimes.

 It also rules out the income tax scenario.

Genuine Cybercrimes

 Using our definition of cybercrime, we can identify specific cases of genuine cybercrimes.

 We can also differentiate three broad categories of (genuine) cybercrime:  cyberpiracy,

 cybertrespass,

 cybervandalism.

Three Categories of (Genuine) Cybercrime

1. Cyberpiracy - using cybertechnology in unauthorized ways to:

a. reproduce copies of proprietary software and proprietary information, or

b. distribute proprietary information (in digital form) across a computer

network.

2. Cybertrespass - using cybertechnology to gain or to exceed unauthorized access to:

a. an individual's or an organization's computer system, or

b. a password-protected Web site.

3. Cybervandalism - using cybertechnology to unleash one or more programs that:

a. disrupt the transmission of electronic information across one or more

computer networks, including the Internet, or

b. destroy data resident in a computer or damage a computer system's

resources, or both.

Examples of the Three Categories of (Genuine) Cybercrimes

 Consider three actual cases:  1. distributing proprietary MP3 files on the

Internet via peer-to peer (P2P) technology;

 2. unleashing the Conficker Virus;

 3. launching the denial-of-service attacks on commercial Web sites.

 We can use our model of cybercrime to see where each crime falls.

Categorizing (Genuine) Cybercrimes

 Crimes involving the unauthorized exchange of proprietary MP3 files would come under the category of cyberpiracy (Category i).

 The crime involving the Conficker Virus falls under cybervandalism (Category iii).

 The denial-of-service attacks on Web sites falls under the heading of cybertrespass (Category ii), as well as under Category (iii).  It spans more than one cybercrime category.

Distinguishing Cybercrimes from Cyber-related Crimes

 Many crimes that involve the use of cybertechnology are not genuine cybercrimes.  E.g., crimes involving pedophilia, stalking, and

pornography can be carried with or without the use of cybertechnology.

 Nothing about these kinds of crimes is unique to, or requires the use of, cybertechnology.

 These crimes are better understood as examples of cyber-related crimes.

Cyber-related Crimes

 Cyber-related crimes can be further divided into two sub-categories:  cyberexacerbated crimes;

 cyberassisted crimes.

Cyber-exacerbated vs. Cyber- assisted crimes

 We can distinguish between a crime in which cybertechnology is used to:  (a) file a fraudulent income-tax return,

 (b) stalk people or to distribute pornography.

 In (a), a computer assists in a way that is trivial and possibly irrelevant.

 In (b), cybertechnology has played a much more significant (i.e., an exacerbating) role.

Crimes Involving Cybertechnology

 Crimes involving cybertechnology can be classified in one of three ways:  Cyberspecific crimes (i.e., genuine

cybercrimes);

 Cyberexacerbated crimes;

 Cyberassisted crimes.

Figure 7-1: Cybercrimes and Cyber-related Crimes

Cybercrimes

Cyberspecific

Cyberpiracy

Cybertrespass

Cybervandalism

Cyberrelated Crimes

Cyberexacerbated Cyberassisted

Cyberstalking

Internet Pedophilia

Internet Pornography

Income-tax cheating

(with a computer)

Physical assault with

a computer

Property damage

using a computer

hardware device

(e.g., throwing a

hardware device

through a window)

A Scheme That Also Differentiates Three Categories of Cybercrime

 Wall (2007) proposes a scheme that corresponds to our three categories of cybercrime (cyberassisted, cyberexacerbated, and cyberspecific, which he refers to as the “three generations” of cybercrime.  Wall’s first “generation cybercimes” correspond to our notion of

cyberassisted crimes, in that they are “traditional” or “ordinary” crimes that happen to involve the use of a computer.

 His “second generation,” or “hybrid crimes,” correspond to our category of cyberexacerbated crimes.

 Wall’s third generation of cybercrimes, i.e., “true cybercrimes,” correspond to our category of genuine cybercrimes, in that they are “solely the product of the Internet” (or, in our case, the product of cybertechnology).

Identity Theft: A Cyber-related Crime

 Lininger and Vines (2005) define identity theft as

a crime in which an imposter obtains key pieces of personal information, such as Social Security or driver’s license numbers, in order to impersonate some else. The information can be used to obtain credit, merchandise, and services in the name of the victim, or to provide the thief with false credentials.

Identity Theft (Continued)

 Identity-theft crimes can also include the taking of another person’s identity through the fraudulent acquisition of personal information in credit card numbers.

 Wall (2007) notes that identity theft is often mistakenly used to describe crimes involving credit card theft.

 So, not all instances of the latter kind of theft qualify as identity theft.

Identity Theft (Continued)

 Identity theft, like other cyber-related crimes, does not require cybertechnology.

 Consider that in the past, identity thieves have combed through dumpsters looking for statements containing account information on credit card bills that people dispose of in their trash (commonly referred to as “dumpster diving”).

 Identity thieves have been very successful in scams involving cybertechnology in general (e.g. in recording credit card “swipes”), independent of the Internet per se.

Identity Theft (Continued)

 Ellen Simon (2005) notes that factors such as “lax security” and “carelessness involving information in computer databases” has made it easy for some identity thieves to acquire personal information about their victims via the use of cybertechnology.

 She describes two examples that occurred in 2005:

 The Bank of America lost computer tapes containing data on 1.2 million federal employees;

 ChoicePoint, Inc. and Lexis-Nexis disclosed that the dossiers of more than 170,000 Americans on the companies’ databases had been illegally accessed by criminals, and that at least 750 of them had their identities stolen.

Identity Theft (Continued)

 Simon (2005) also notes that the information in these databases contained the addresses and social security numbers of individuals.

 E.g., all the information that identity thieves needed to open up a credit card account.

 Simon points out that another incident linked to lax security and carelessness involved an MCI laptop computer containing the names of 165,000 current and former MCI employees. The computer was stolen from the car of an MCI analyst in Colorado, which was parked in front of the analyst’s home garage.

Identity Theft as a Cyber-related Crime (Continued)

 Many kinds of identity-theft scams have been carried out on the Internet.

 One common example is a scheme involving email that appears to be from a reputable business.  For example, you may receive e-mail that looks like it was

sent by eBay, Amazon, or PayPal.

 The emails often look legitimate because they include the official logos of the companies they claim to be.  Some messages inform you that your account is about to

expire and that you need to update it by verifying your credit card number.

Identity Theft as a Cyber-related Crime (Continued)

 How can a potential victim differentiate legitimate email sent from businesses like eBay or PayPal from that sent by identity thieves?

 Typically, email from identity thieves will not address the potential victim by name.  This often indicates that the e-mail is not from a

legitimate source.

 Many emails sent from identity thieves are generated through spam via a technique referred to as “phishing.”

Corporate Espionage as an Example of a Cyber-related Crime

 Corporate espionage has been made easier by cybertechnology, which provides corporate spies with data-gathering opportunities that were not previously possible.  Corporations sometimes inadvertently supply spies

with valuable “inside information” by posting information about their products and their missions on company Web sites that are freely accessible to the public (Power, 2000).

 Corporate-espionage crimes need not involve the use of cybertechnology, but its use has exacerbated those crimes.

Corporate Espionage as a Cyber- related Crime (Continued)

 The U.S. Congress passed the Economic Espionage Act of 1996, making it a federal crime to profit from the misappropriation of someone else’s trade secret.

 Although the Economic Espionage Act is not exclusively a computer crime law, it specifically includes language about “downloads,” “uploads,” “e-mails,” etc. (Power, 2000).

Corporate Espionage as a Cyber- related Crime (Continued)

 Some economic analysts worry that economic espionage, especially in the high-tech industry, threatens the American position in a global market.

 Ironically, cybertechnology has made it much easier for spies to carry out their espionage operations against the very corporations that develop that technology.

Organized Crime and Cyber- related Crimes

 Career criminals, including those in organized crime, now use cybertechnology to carry out their crimes.

 E.g., crimes involving gambling and drug trafficking have moved to the Internet.

 Scams involving Internet adoption and Internet auctions have increased.

Organized Crime in Cyberspace (Continued)

 Racketeering-related crimes, often viewed as "old-style" crimes, do not get much attention, whereas new forms of hacking-related crimes tend to grab the headlines (Power, 2000).

 Critics note that some cyber-related crimes carried out by professionals may be undetected because professional criminals do not typically make the same kinds of mistakes as hackers, who often tend to be amateurs.

Organized Crime in Cyberspace (Continued)

 Power (2000) believes that youthful hacker stereotypes have provided a convenient foil for professional criminals.

 Unlike hackers, professional criminals, who do not seek technological adventure and whose skills are better, are less likely to get caught.

Programs and Techniques Designed to Combat Cybercrime in the U.S.

 Programs and techniques used in the U.S. to combat cybercrime include:  Entrapment and “sting” operations;

 Keystroke monitoring;

 Total Information Awareness Project

 Enhanced Government Surveillance Techniques (including the Patriot Act).

Entrapment on the Internet

 Review the scenario (in the textbook) where Detective James McLaughlin posed as a young boy in boy-love chat rooms.

 Under this alias, McLaughlin searched for adults using the Internet to seek sex with underage boys.

 By gathering evidence from conversations recorded in Internet chat rooms, McLaughlin was able to trap and arrest an adult on charges of child molestation.

 Philip Rankin, living in Norway, communicated with McLaughlin under the assumption that the police officer was a young boy.

 Rankin agreed to travel to Keene, NH to meet in person at a Dunkin Donuts restaurant.

 When Rankin arrived at the restaurant, McLaughlin arrested him (the scenario is based on Sinnott-Armstrong, 1999).

Entrapment on the Internet (Continued)

 Several cases of child molestation have been investigated by the FBI, where pedophiles have crossed over a state line to meet and molest children they met via an Internet forum.

 Sometimes police officers have entered chat rooms posing as young girls to lure unsuspecting pedophiles.

 In 2003, a sting operation was conducted in which a policeman posing as a 13-year old girl in an Internet chat room arrested a 22-year old man on charges of attempted (second-degree) rape of a child (Martinez, http://www.michaelmartinez.org/document.pdf ).

Keystroke Monitoring Software

 Law-enforcement agencies have used use a technology called keystroke monitoring to track down professional criminals.

 Keystroke-monitoring software records every key struck by a user, as well as every character of the response that the system returns to the user.

Keystroke Monitoring (Continued)

 Keystroke-monitoring software can trace the text in electronic messages back to the original sequence of keys and characters entered at a user's computer keyboard.

 It is especially useful in tracking the activities of criminals who use encryption to encode their messages.

The Patriot Act and Enhanced Government Surveillance Techniques

 The USA (United and Strengthening America) PATRIOT (Provide Appropriate Tools Required to Intercept and Obstruct Terrorism) Act was passed by the U.S. Congress in October 2001.

 It was renewed (in a slightly modified form) in March 2006.

 The Patriot Act gives increased powers to law enforcement agencies to track down suspected terrorists and criminals.

Patriot Act (Continued)

 The Electronic Communications Privacy Act authorized the government to attach pen registers and trap-and-trace devices to a suspect’s phone.

 When a suspect makes a phone call, a pen register displays the number being dialed; when he receives a phone call, the trap-and-trace-device displays the caller’s phone number.

 A pen register used on the Internet can reveal the URLs of Web sites visited by a suspect.

 The Patriot Act allows police to install Internet pen registers without having to demonstrate probable cause.

Patriot Act (Continued)

 The Patriot Act is an extension of the Foreign Intelligence Surveillance Act (FISA), which established legal guidelines for federal investigations of foreign intelligence targets.

 The Patriot Act amended FISA to permit domestic surveillance as well.

 Some applaud the enhanced domestic surveillance provisions made possible by the Patriot Act.

 Others fear that the government’s increased powers to conduct “sneak and peek” operations will have overall negative consequences for a nation that values both freedom and the presumption of innocence.

Patriot Act (Continued)

 Section 215 of the Patriot Act allows FBI directors to obtain library and bookstore records of individuals.

 It also allows the FBI to impose a “gag order” that prevents those who provided them with this information from disclosing to the affected parties that they were the subject of an investigation and that information about them had been acquired by the FBI.

Patriot Act (Continued)

 The American Library Association (ALA), as well as a coalition of publishers, authors and booksellers, have opposed this aspect of the Patriot Act.

 They argue that denying librarians and booksellers the liberty to inform individuals and their attorneys that they had been forced to release records violates citizens’ First Amendment right to free speech.

Patriot Act (Continued)

 In late 2005, it was reported that the Bush Administration had been monitoring the e-mails and phone calls of U.S. citizens who were communicating with individuals outside the U.S.

 Opponents argued that the Bush Administration’s practices violated the law because no court order was requested in conducting surveillance on U.S. citizens.

 It is legal for the National Security Agency (NSA) to conduct wiretaps on non-U.S. citizens, but the NSA is not authorized to intercept the communications of Americans without first getting a court order.

Additional Technologies Used to Combat International Cybercrime

 Two kinds of tools/technologies that have been used to fight cybercrime at the international level are:  encryption (described in Chapter 6);

 biometrics.

Biometrics Technologies

 Biometrics can be defined as: the biological identification of a person, which includes eyes, voice, hand prints, finger prints, retina patterns, and handwritten signatures (Power, 2000).

 Irma van der Ploeg (2004) notes that with biometrics tools, a person’s:  iris can be “read” in the same way that a person’s

voice can be printed.  fingerprints can be “read” by a computer that is

“touch sensitive” and “endowed with hearing and seeing capacities.”

Biometrics Technologies (Continued)

 In 2002, an iris-scanning device, which is a type of biometric identification scheme, was first tested at London's Heathrow Airport.

 The scanning device captures a digital image of one's iris, which is then stored in a database.

 The digital image can be matched against images of individuals, including those entering and leaving public places.

Biometrics Technologies: Facial- Recognition Programs in the U.S.

 At Super Bowl XXXV in January 2001, face- recognition technology was used by law- enforcement agencies to scan the faces of persons entering the football stadium.

 The scanned images were instantly matched against electronic images (faces) of suspected criminals and terrorists, contained in a central computer database.  Initially, this was controversial; after September

11, 2001, it was widely supported.

Biometrics and the Eurodac Project

 European Proposals to use of biometric identifiers have also generated controversy.

 The Eurodac Project is a European Union proposal to use biometrics in controlling illegal immigration and border crossing in European countries.

 In 2002, a decision was made to go forward with the Eurodac proposal.

National and International Efforts to Fight Cybercrime

 Problems of jurisdiction arise at both the national and international levels.

 Jurisdiction is based on the concept of boundaries, and laws are based on "territorial sovereignty" (Girasa, 2002).

 Cyberspace has no physical boundaries.

Jurisdictional Problems in Cyberspace (Within the U.S.)

 Consider the scenario (described in the text) involving the Virtual Casino.

 Imagine that it is legal to gamble online in Nevada but not in Texas.

 Next, imagine that a Texas resident “visits” a gambling Web site, whose server is in Nevada.  If the Texas resident “breaks the law,” in

which state did the crime take place?

Jurisdictional Problems in Cyberspace (Outside the U.S.)

 Review the scenario (in the textbook) on an international law suit involving XYZ Corp.

 Suppose that XYZ develops and releases, globally, a software product that is defective.

 Further suppose that the software defect causes computer systems using it to crash under certain conditions.

 These system crashes, in turn, result both in severe disruption and damage to system resources.

Jurisdictional Problems in Cyberspace (Continued)

 What recourse should consumers and organizations who purchase this product have in their complaint against XYZ Corp.?

 In the U.S., there are strict liability laws.

 But disclaimers (and caveats) are often issued by manufacturers to protect themselves against litigation.

XYZ Corp. Scenario (Continued)

 Suppose that several countries in which XYZ has sold its new product also have strict liability laws.

 Should XYZ Corp. be held legally liable in each country in which its defective product has been sold?

 Should that corporation then be forced to stand trial in each of these countries?

XYZ Corp. Scenario (Continued)

 In the case involving the ILOVEYOU Virus, several nations wanted Onel Guzman (who allegedly launched the virus, extradited to stand trial in their countries.

 Using the same rationale, would it follow that XYZ should be tried in each country where its defective product caused some damage?

 Consider that if XYZ were to be found guilty in these nations' courts, the economic results for that corporation could be catastrophic.

International Laws and Treaties to Combat Cybercrime

 In 2000, the G8 (Group of Eight) Countries met to discuss an international treaty involving cybercrime.

 The Council of Europe (COE) has considered some ways for implementing an international legal code that would apply to members of the European Union.

 The COE Council has released drafts of an international convention of "Crime in Cyberspace."

International Laws and Treaties (Continued)

 The COE Convention on Cybercrime addresses four types of criminal activity in cyberspace:  Offenses against the confidentiality, availability,

and integrity of data and computer systems;

 Computer-related offenses (such as fraud);

 Content-related offenses (such as child pornography);

 Copyright-related offenses.

Online Music File-Sharing Sites and International Laws

 Many crimes affecting digital intellectual property are international in scope.

 Beginning in the late 1990s, Internet users around the world downloaded proprietary music from the original Napster Web site, whose central servers resided in the US.

 In subsequent years, many illicit file sharing sites that built upon the Napster system have operated outside the U.S.

 E.g., the servers for KaZaA, a well known P2P file sharing site, resided in the Netherlands before it ceased operations in 2005.

 Other sites, including Limewire, have taken the place of earlier sites like Napster and KaZaA and have enabled the illicit sharing of proprietary music internationally.

The Pirate Bay Case and International Intellectual-Property Laws

 Review the scenario (in the textbook) involving the court case of the Pirate Bay Web site, which received international attention.

 The verdict in this case (against Pirate Bay) no doubt pleased those who favor strict enforcement of international intellectual-property laws.

 Here, there was no need to dispute jurisdictional boundaries and no need to extradite individuals across nationally sovereign borders to prosecute a cyberrelated crime that was international in scope.