NCJ Number
181207
Journal
British Journal of Criminology Volume: 38 Issue: 2 Dated: Spring 1998 Pages: 201-229
Date Published
1998
Length
29 pages
Annotation
A small exploratory study of two Internet newsgroups focused on criminal activities in these publicly accessible areas of the Internet and suggested a tentative model of the structure of these newsgroups.
Abstract
Members of both newsgroups disseminated information and products to persons who might wish to commit crimes. One newsgroup focused on hacking encrypted satellite television services. The other group was a locksmithing group; the members were interested in picking locks and understanding more about safes and other security devices. Findings indicated that the Internet is a particularly effective medium for criminal recruitment and the dissemination of criminal techniques. It it possible that the Internet will bring an increase in crime and create new problems for those concerned with crime control and crime prevention, but it is too early to tell whether the Internet or high-technology crime will cause major problems for law and order in the future. However, various Internet crimes may become high-volume crimes as the Internet expands. If this happens, new and widened approaches to dealing with high-volume crime will be necessary. Perhaps the most important theme that emerged from this study was the susceptibility of high-technology devices such as smart cards to ingenious or systematic hacking attempts. Moreover, once cracked, the rapid dissemination of a new security breach via the Internet can render previously crime-proof systems obsolete in a matter of hours. Figure, footnotes, glossary, and 52 references (Author abstract modified)