Information Technology Reference
In-Depth Information
Consumers can help protect themselves by regularly checking their credit reports with
major credit bureaus, following up with creditors if their bills do not arrive on time, not
revealing any personal information in response to unsolicited e-mail or phone calls (especially
Social Security numbers and credit card account numbers), and shredding bills and other
documents that contain sensitive information.
The U.S. Congress passed the Identity Theft and Assumption Deterrence Act of 1998
to fight identity theft. Under this act, the Federal Trade Commission (FTC) is assigned
responsibility to help victims restore their credit and erase the impact of the imposter. It also
makes identity theft a federal felony punishable by a prison term ranging from 3 to 25 years.
Internet Gambling
Many people enjoy Internet gambling as a recreational and leisure activity. Baccarat, bingo,
blackjack, pachinko, poker, roulette, and sports betting are all readily available online. The
size of the online gambling market is not known, but one estimate is that $10-20 billion is
70 countries, the legality of these online activities is far from clear in the United States.
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The Interstate Wire Act of 1961 has been interpreted by the Department of Justice as
banning all Internet gambling. However, various courts have interpreted the Act as
covering only sporting events and exempting casino games such as blackjack and
poker.
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The Unlawful Internet Gambling Enforcement Act of 2006 (UIGEA) made it illegal to
transfer funds from banks or financial institutions to online gambling sites. However, it
failed to clarify the issue of the legality of gambling online. The Act simply states that
some gambling is unlawful under state or federal law without specifying details other than
excluding several specific gambling activities from its purview.
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Various individual states have passed laws regulating Internet gambling. These laws
regulate making bets online, taking bets online, and transferring money between the
bettor and an online casino anywhere in the world.
CBSSports.com and Facebook were investigated briefly by the FBI for collaborating to make
it easier for Facebook users to fill out brackets for the NCAA 2008 Basketball Tournament.
Leslie Anne Wade, senior vice president at CBS stated: “These are new issues that are going
to require new thought processes and new answers. [CBS will] look at it.”
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The revenues generated by Internet gambling represent a major untapped source of in-
come for the state and federal governments. A study prepared by PriceWaterhouseCoopers
estimates that the taxation of Internet gambling would yield somewhere between $8.7 billion
and $42.8 billion in additional federal revenues during its first ten years.
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A computer can also be the object of the crime, rather than the tool for committing it. Tens
of millions of dollars worth of computer time and resources are stolen every year. Each time
system access is illegally obtained, data or computer equipment is stolen or destroyed, or
software is illegally copied, the computer becomes the object of crime. These crimes fall into
several categories: illegal access and use, data alteration and destruction, information and
equipment theft, software and Internet piracy, computer-related scams, and international
computer crime.
Illegal Access and Use
Crimes involving illegal system access and use of computer services are a concern to both
government and business. Since the outset of information technology, computers have
been plagued by criminal hackers. Originally, a
hacker
was a person who enjoys computer
hacker
A person who enjoys computer
technology and spends time
learning and using computer
systems.
