Exploring Cybercrime: Cyberpiracy, Cybertrespass & Cyber-Vandalism - Essay Sample

Introduction

Cyberpiracy refers to the registration of an internet domain using another person or organization's name that is similar to the name of another person or institution. The main purpose of establishing such a domain is to confuse the public and make it cumbersome for them to identify the website of the legitimate product or service provider.

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Cybertrespass

Cybertrespass refers to the process of connecting to a private computer system without permission.

Cyber-Vandalism

Cyber-vandalism is the editing of online content in a manner that is malicious. It entails removing, adding, or offensively modifying content. It is carried out via computer technology and involves the defacement of a website.

Laws or Acts That Address the Cybercrimes

Some of the laws or acts that address the cybercrimes include:

The Fraudulent Online Identity Sanctions Act that tackles the issue of criminals who register online domains with false identification ("Justice.gov," 1979). It incorporates the provisions to increase the jail times for criminals who aid in providing false information on domain name registrars and using the domain to commit infringement crimes on trademarks and copyrights.

Trademark Cyberpiracy Prevention Act: The act protects consumers and promotes electronic commerce by amending certain laws that may contribute to trademark dilution, infringement, and counterfeiting among others. Section 43 of the Trademark Act of 1946 ensures that one is liable in a civil action by the owner of a mark, or name that is protected under this section.

The Electronic Communications Protection Act (ECPA) provides protections for communication either in transit or in storage. The Storage Communications Act 2702 (Title 2 of the ECPA), views it as a criminal violation to intentionally access an electronic communication service without authorization or by exceeding authorized access. The Wiretap Act 2511 (Title 1 of the ECPA) prohibits the act of intentionally intercepting electronic communications that are on transit (McNicholas and Angle, 2019).

The Computer Fraud and Abuse Act (CFAA) enlists it as a crime to access and consequently share any information that is protected. Passed in the late 1980s, and revised later, the act is restrictive and ensures protection of personal information (Rees, 2006). The Act prohibits the unauthorized access to a computer and retrieving sensitive information, knowingly accessing a protected computer without authorization to defraud, intentional or reckless damage to a computer, trafficking of passwords, transmitting extortion threats, and cyber-extortion that relates to demands of money or property (McNicholas and Angle, 2019).

The Computer Software Privacy and Control Act prevents the use of deceptive software transmissions and practices to safeguard the privacy of computers, protect internet commerce, and enhance computer control ("HG.org," 2020).

The identity Theft Enforcement and Restitution Act of 2008 provides an expansion of paragraph 1030(a)(2) by eliminating the requirement that forbidden access involve an interstate communication. In a bid to control computer hacking, that forms part of the highlighted cybercrimes, the Act redefines "protected computer" to include those that "affect" foreign commerce. This enables and empowers the authorities to address cybercrimes involving computers that are located within the same state. The act provides an expansion from interstate or foreign commerce computers to computers used in or affecting such commerce. It extends to cover computers that have an interstate internet connection and include any freestanding or other computers that link to commerce (Doyle, 2014).

Punishments to People Found Guilty of the Cybercrimes

In a case that involves cybercrimes, the plaintiff may elect, at a time before the trial court renders the final judgment, to recover, other than the profits and actual damages, an award of the statutory damages. This may involve amounts of not less than $1,000 and not more than $100,000 per domain name, depending on the one that the court may view as just ("Congress.gov," 1999).

The penalty for conspiring to violate, for violating, or attempting to violate paragraph 1030 (a)(3) that relates to trespassing in Government Cyberspace is imprisonment for less than a year and/or a fine of not more than $100,000 or $200,000 for organizations for the first offense. However, for any subsequent convictions, the penalty involves imprisonment for not more than 10 years and/or a fine of not more than $250,000 or $500,000 for organizations (Doyle, 2014). The offense may also trigger restitution, forfeiture, money laundering, racketeering, civil liability provisions, and sentencing guidelines in other areas in the law. For some reason, in the event of a simple trespassing offense under paragraph 1030(a)(3), the trespasser may also suffer from confiscation of his/her computer and any other property that enabled the offense (Doyle, 2014).

Cyber piracy, among other denial-of-service attacks that violate the CFAA 18 may result in imprisonment of up to ten years including various state computer crime laws (McNicholas and Angle, 2019).

Violations of personal computers and aspects of cyber vandalism are subject to penalties that range from one year (for first-time violators with an improper purpose, i.e., those not committed for commercial advantage or may result in malicious destruction) to ten years for repeated violations. Moreover, intentional intercepting of electronic communications that have been prohibited may result in a penalty that may include imprisonment of up to five years (McNicholas and Angle, 2019).

References

"Congress.gov" (1999). Trademark Cyberpiracy Prevention Act. Congree.gov. https://www.congress.gov/bill/106th-congress/senate-bill/1255/text

Doyle, C. (2014). Cybercrime: An overview of the federal computer fraud and abuse statute and related federal criminal laws. Congressional Research Service. https://fas.org/sgp/crs/misc/97-1025.pdf

"HG.org" (2020). Computer Crime Law. Hg.org. https://www.hg.org/computer-crime.html

"Justice.gov" (1979). Computer Crimes. Office of Legal Education. https://www.justice.gov/sites/default/files/criminal-ccips/legacy/2015/01/14/ccmanual.pdf

McNicholas, E. & Angle, K. (2019). USA: Cybersecurity 2020. ICLG.com. https://iclg.com/practice-areas/cybersecurity-laws-and-regulations/usa

Rees, A (2006). Cybercrime laws of the United States. Oas.org. https://www.oas.org/juridico/spanish/us_cyb_laws.pdf