“If you don’t like
something, change it. if you can’t change it, change the way you think about
it.”
-Mary Englebreit
In the present era of technology where everything is done
through internet, we live a life made of internet and for the internet.
Traditionally people used to buy books now they have kindle, earlier they had
to stand in queues for booking tickets or paying their bills now it done
through a click.
The adage “Yesterday is not ours to recover, but tomorrow is
ours to win or lose.” stands true here. This means that internet too has a
winning side and a not so good losing side. The positive side of internet is
helpful in everyday life. It helps students to learn new things and boosts
their creativity. It helps the employees to complete their work on time. The
access to internet gives them the comfort to work from home. But at the same
time, a not so bright picture also comes into effect which makes things ugly
and the internet a liability, a drawback, a disgrace to humanity, morality,
peace, and advancement.
For once, lets focus on the crimes that are committed on
internet every day and every hour. Crimes committed through internet are called
cybercrimes. These are the criminal offences done by the means of internet or
by various forms of social networking sites by an individual or a group of
individuals which cause physical or mental harm or loss to the victim or their
reputation directly or indirectly. Cybercrimes include cyberbullying, cyber
stalking, online harassment, identity thefts, hacking copyright infringement,
sextortion, child pornography etc. All these crimes are gender neutral as well
as age neutral.
According to a report published by the National Crime
Records Bureau (NCRB 1986) under the Information Technology Act states that the
cybercrimes doubled in 2017 over 2016 with an increase of 77% as compared to
2016. The motive behind 56% of these registered cybercrimes cases was found to
be fraud, while 6.7% of cases were of sexual exploitation and 4.6% were registered
for spreading malign and disrepute information. Uttar Pradesh recorded the
highest number of cases (4971) followed by Maharashtra with (3604) cases and
Karnataka with (3174) cases. Maximum offenders arrested for cybercrimes fall in
the age group of 18-35 years. Hacking
the computer systems and obscene publication were the main cases registered
under IT Act.
These cybercrimes raise many questions like who are the
people behind it? How do they operate?
What do they achieve after doing it? Is their any law to remit the cyber
acts?
The people behind these cyber acts are hackers, paedophiles,
cybercriminals, threat actors.
Cybercriminals use false identity to trap the children,
teenagers, and even adults. They contact them through various chat rooms like the
latest "so-called-friendly" apps say Instagram, snapchat, WhatsApp
and so on. We have seen a similar approach in the latest case - bois locker
room. These people seem friendly and extract the personal information from the
users after winning their confidence. Sometimes they start contacting victim on
his/her e-mail address. They start sending pornographic images/text to the
victim to make them shed their inhibitions so that they feel that whatever is
being fed to him is normal and that everybody does it. They further extract
other personal information about victims and then drag them further into the
net of sexual assault or harassment by using them as a sex object. This is
their modus operandi.
The laws that govern the cybercrimes in cyberspace can help
victims get justice. These laws make sure that criminals get the punishment for
the inhuman crimes committed by them. Various sections of Information and
Technology Act 2000 deals with different cybercrimes. Tampering with Computer
source documents - Sec.65, Hacking with
Computer systems and Data alteration -
Sec.66, Publishing obscene information - Sec.67, Un-authorised access to
protected system - Sec.70 , Breach of Confidentiality and Privacy - Sec.72,
Publishing false digital signature certificates - Sec.73.
The Indian Penal Code 1860 also has various sections that
cover cybercrimes -Sending threatening messages by email - Sec 503 IPC, Sending
defamatory messages by email - Sec 499 IPC, Forgery of electronic records - Sec
463 IPC, Bogus websites, cyber frauds - Sec 420 IPC, Email spoofing - Sec 463
IPC, Web-Jacking - Sec. 383 IPC, E-Mail Abuse - Sec.500 IPC.
These acts are gender and age neutral which means, the
criminals target both male and female victim from all age groups. The popular
techniques used are cyber stalking, child pornography, sexting, sexual
harassment, blackmailing, online grooming, morphing.
The main motive behind the crimes remains diverse. Some of
these crimes are committed for money or property, while others for revenge.
Many a times a sociopath indulges in such crimes for enjoyment.
These crimes affect the victims adversely. Their reputation
is maligned, they are defamed, and they are robbed of their money and internal
peace. Many of these cases have resulted in severe cases of depression among
victims and in many worse cases they have resulted in an unstable emotionally
drained victim. Many of them have fought the long and tedious battle for
justice while many others have succumbed to this torture by committing
suicides.
We must identify these sociopaths and psychopaths that are
draining our society of its peace. The authorities need to take strict action
and maintain strict surveillance on shady activities on internet to prevent
this evil from developing its root deep in our society. We also need efficient
and supportive laws that help speed up the justice process. But most important
of all, we need a deep introspection of ourselves and our society that have
nourished the sadistic tendencies of people. We need a fundamental change in
the mindsets to stop this virus in our cyber life and continue to use internet
for overall growth and progress of human life.
References
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