Net Crimes and Misdemeanours: Outmanoeuvring the Spammers, Swindlers, and Stalkers Who Are Targeting You Online

David Mason (Victoria University of Wellington, Wellington, New Zealand)

The Electronic Library

ISSN: 0264-0473

Article publication date: 1 August 2003

157

Keywords

Citation

Mason, D. (2003), "Net Crimes and Misdemeanours: Outmanoeuvring the Spammers, Swindlers, and Stalkers Who Are Targeting You Online", The Electronic Library, Vol. 21 No. 4, pp. 381-382. https://doi.org/10.1108/02640470310491630

Publisher

:

Emerald Group Publishing Limited

Copyright © 2003, MCB UP Limited


This book is based on a true event. Just before Christmas 1996 Jayne Hitchcock was deluged with hundreds of e‐mails on her home computer. She changed her e‐mail address. Two days later she was battling irate messages from newsgroup members demanding she retract her insulting posts. This was bad enough but when it came to smutty phone calls and men standing on her doorstep looking for kinky sex she was forced to change her phone number, and eventually her home address and her life. Someone had taken a dislike to her and was impersonating her on the Internet, and giving out her home address and phone number in sex chat rooms. Unlike most victims, she fought back, tracked down her tormentor, and exposed him in court. He turned out to be the owner of a vanity publishing company she had criticised to an Internet writer’s group.

The book is the story of her experience but also a call to stand up to cybercriminals. Jayne not only stood up them, but she also got laws passed in several US states outlawing the practices. She shows how to recognize cybercrime, how to avoid it, how to defend yourself against it and where to get help when you need it.

She gives a comprehensive and up‐to‐date account of the many and changing manifestations of cybercrime. These mutate constantly with changes in the technology. Spam (i.e. unwanted advertising e‐mail messages) is the offence most people will be familiar with, but there are new abuses daily – Nigerian oil money scams, online auction fraud, chain letters, false invoicing, credit card theft, viruses – all await the unwary. The book discusses each of these subjects, outlines the nature of the threat and gives solid sensible advice on how to avoid them.

The book also covers some of the more serious crimes, identity theft and personal data harvesting. The information gathered can be used for ordinary crime, for example to purchase goods in your name. Or for mischief, posting hoax opinions you know nothing about or, in a few cases, for electronic libel, or creating Web sites that denigrate former romantic partners. The book discusses your rights in these cases and the efforts of law enforcement agencies to keep up with it all. Most of the material is sourced from the USA but there are cases from other countries as well. Several chapters are devoted to the darker crimes, pornography and paedophilia. She explains how the molesters operate and uses case studies to illustrate what can happen, and advises parents on how to spot a child at risk.

There are some lighter moments. There is a chapter on etiquette at the office, and reports on what law enforcement and the IT industry are doing to shut down or lock out the pests. There is also good advice on encryption and anti‐virus software, and detailed instructions on how to read the message headers on unwanted e‐mail so that you can trace where it came from and get the sender delisted. There is an extensive list of resources you can contact if you are a victim, and a glossary for the newcomer. The tips, stories and insights make it an excellent introduction for the novice and expert alike.

The book is a very personal account of what can go wrong on the Internet, and will be welcomed by those who feel uneasy about the speed and reach of the new technology. However, the last chapter points out that the problem has to be kept in perspective, and that with just a little precaution the PC in your living room will stay your friendly link to the outside world, and not become a backdoor into your home.

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