While reading the article, a sentence which caught my attention was this:
In the information age, we need to re-learn a lesson now a century old. Despite the sophistication of 21st century technology, today's e-mails are as open to the eyes of snoopers and intruders as were the first crude radio telegraph messages. Campbell (2000)In a situation, where the large part of peoples life goes on in the Internet, it is not comfortable to realize, that we are basically living under surveillance. Our every e-mail, blog post, web browsing history could be watched by someone. But as people are creating more and more online content, it must be getting hard for the system to grasp everything going on online. Therefore there probably aren't enough resource to keep an eye on every individuals actions in the Internet.
In the other hand, the system probably has prevented many crimes and maybe even wars. I imagine that knowing that this kind of system exists, should also discipline people, who are planning to commit some crimes or frauds. Therefore the system's existence is justified. As long as the system is in the hands of people, who's intentions are sincere and pro peace and balance, it should serve our best interests. But if somehow the system should fail or get into the hands of wrong people, a lot of damage could be done.
Write a blog description of an Internet fraud (scam) scheme.
Although there are much more complicated Internet frauds around today, I would like to talk about the most simple ones. The e-mails which I discover from my junk mail inbox couple of times a week. It says that either I have won some lottery or inherited a big sum of money and should send my personal data or even some kind of fee for them to send me the money. Of course, no heritage or lottery win actually comes from there.
I am surprised that people still fall for these schemes. Lately the scammers have learned to use the Google Translator, which makes these e-mails fun. The wrong grammar and major mistakes in sentences should convince the reader that the content can not be real.
Still a couple on times a year Estonian media together with the police or customer protection warn people about these kind of scams. It shows that there still are ignorant people out there who sincerely believe every e-mail they receive and get deceived. Maybe Internet education in schools schould help to prevent these situations from happening.
Review the scambaiting websites mentioned above. Analyse them from an ethical point of view.
The scambaiting websites are good examples of wild justice. There is an issue of ethics in every wild justice case. People who have been victims of a scam or just fed up with getting these scam e-mails have decided to step up. As the justice system is not working as effectively and fast as needed to punish the scammers, some people have taken the justice in their own hands.
I guess most people say that the scammers get what they deserve. Maybe that's why these kind of wild justice actions have not been banned for now. But where does it take us? Playing according to the same rules as criminals could make the player a criminal as well, doesn't it?
Probably the only acceptable solution would be to adjust the laws and justice systems in a way, that it would allow to punish these scammers and education systems should educate people about not falling for these kind of scams.
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