Week 8: Law & Internet Seminar (LAW 745)

Computer crime, money laundering, computer torts (libel, fraud)

Reading:

1. For an argument that the threat is real, see Statement Before the Senate Committee on the Judiciary Subcommittee on Technology, Terrorism, and Government Information
2. Mark D. Rasch, Computer Security: Legal Lessons in the Information Age
3. Money Laundering remains one of the biggest worries if you listen to regulators.  Consider FINCEN's paper, Money in a Borderless World .
4. Cyber-libel raises some of the hardest questions since the libel may never be deleted and there's no reason to think corrections will ever catch up with the falsehood.  (There are also jurisdictional issues....).  Consider the (pre-Monica!) Matt Drudge case; you can find many articles about it on the Internet...here's one to get you started.
5. Poke around the Online Fraud Information Menu [back up now] and the Internet Scams Are there specific cyber-frauds?  Or same old frauds in a new medium?  Does the FTC complaint against Audiotex describe a uniquely Internet fraud?  How about Peter Wayner, Bogus Web Sites Troll for Credit Card Numbers?
6. "Identity Theft" is one crime that, even though it can happen without computers, seems particularly easy with the Internet.  Consider Nina Bernstein, Lives on File: Privacy Devalued in Information Economy.
7. Can terrorists use the Internet to unleash cyber-war on the USA?  Or vice-versa?.  You can skim Martin Libicki, What is Information Warfare? for a survey.  Is the Pentagon vulnerable? Or is the Pentagon trying to hype the numbers to scare Congress into spending more money?
8. For a fairly sober assesement, albeit one that skirts all the encryption issues, see, the Report by The President's Commission on Critical Infrastructure Protection. You may read just the summary of the report, or choose to dive in and read the whole report. I particularly recommend chapters 1-4 and chapter 10.
9. Don't miss the DigiCrime web site.

Doing:

1. Catch up on all the "doing" assignments you have missed.

Optional

• Maybe this whole Internet crime thing is overblown?  See an example of the FBI's data collection techniques...
• The "electronic pearl harbor" metaphor gets out of hand
• The SEC is worried about cyberfraud.
• The FTC is worried about cyberscams and Protecting the Consumer in the Global Marketplace.
• For a really hysterical look at the issues, see infowar.com .
• Then, there is the Institute for the Advanced Study of Information Warefare, no less, containing many good links.
• Here's an unusual hacking case: John Schwartz, The Case of the Intel 'Hacker,' Victim of His Own Access.
• And finally, and not completely relevantly, here is a very disturbing article about the FBI's lousy track record in fighting crime by David Burnham.