Cullen+B-+cases+involving+computer+crime

Cyber Crimes

So what is a cyber crime? A cyber crime is a crime that uses is any electronic device as a median to create an illegal action. Such crimes include hacking, copyright infringement, and child pornography

Hacking is defined as intentionally accessing a computer without authorization or exceeding authorized access.

Copyright infringement occurs when a copyrighted work is reproduced, distributed, performed, publicly displayed, or made into a derivative work without the permission of the copyright owner

Child pornography is the sexual photography of minors

Computer crimes started to occur around the 1960s but gained notoriety just recently because of its growing popularity. Computer Crimes have recently been brought to courts and settled with major fines.



Consequences for Committing Cyber Crimes
Some major cases in the past few years have resulted in fines of over 500,000 dollars and 96 months in jail!

An example of one of these cases would be in 2006 when a man from Michigan was given 30 months in jail and charged $504,495. He was 19 and was charged with conspiracy to launch destructive computer attacks on business competitors.

Also, a woman was recently fined 1.9 million dollars for illegally downloading 24 songs.

Remember, downloading pirated videos or music is ILLEGAL!

"cybercrime.gov." //Welcome to the United States Department of Justice//. N.p., n.d. Web. 11 Jan. 2011. <http://www.justice.gov/criminal/cybercrime/ "A Brief History of Cybercrime - TIME." //Breaking News, Analysis, Politics, Blogs, News Photos, Video, Tech Reviews - TIME.com//. N.p., n.d. Web. 12 Jan. 2011. <http://www.time.com/time/nation/article