THE INTERNET AND ILLEGAL ACTIVITY

Since the advent of the World Wide Web in the early 1990's, numerous
problems have arose pertaining to illegal activity on the Internet. Exactly
how these problems began is simple to explain-whenever a new type of media
becomes popular with the general public, unscrupulous individuals discover
ways to manipulate and exploit to their advantage (usually financially) the
information that is placed on the Internet in the form of personal data,
such as credit card numbers, Social Security numbers, bank accounts and
medical records. For example, with the explosion of chat rooms, blogging
and websites like YouTube and Craig's List, pedophiles have been able to
access email addresses in order to conduct live chats and discussions with
underage boys and girls for the express purpose of meeting them in private
for sex. Also, criminals have managed to gain access to bank accounts,
credit card numbers and other personal data in order to steal funds for
personal use. Spamming is also a big problem, especially when criminals
gain access to private email addresses and send fraudulent promises based
on financial freedom or a high-paying job with the intent to defraud people
of their money and assets. Obviously, this type of theft works relatively
well, for there has been a large increase in the number of people ripped
off by scam artists within the last five years.
The solutions for these and other illegal activities on the Internet
is extremely complicated, due to the number of criminals lurking on the
Internet and their ability to disguise their true identities and motives.
One solution would be to utilize some type of "Internet police" who would
monitor certain websites for suspicious illegal activity, especially
related to sexual predators and child molesters. A more radical approach
would involve shutting down websites that cater to illegal activity and
making sure that they do not return to an online status. The best solution
is to locate those persons who conduct illegal activities on the web and
put them in jail for long periods, thus assuring that they do not repeat
their illegal activities.