Cybercrime Legislation
Legislations concerning cybercrimes have not kept pace with the emergence and use of technology by criminals. Examples of such ramifications are the U. S federal Computer Fraud and Abuse (“CFAA”), 18 U.S.C § 1030, and the Electronic Communication Protection Act (“ECPA”). Among the statements of the CFAA is that trafficking of passwords and extortion in the cyberspace regarding demands for money or property are cybercrime (McNicholas and Angle, 2019). The CFAA is the primary guiding ramification regarding the prosecution of cybercriminals, or provision of civil and criminal penalties. The ECPA primarily protects forms of communication in the storage of transits to ensure privacy and data integrity.
Keeping up the pace with emergence and development of technology demands that the regulations identify vulnerabilities in advance, or combats them upon emergence. For instance, the CFAA may identify that besides password trafficking, cybercriminals may use behavioral biometrics to map, copy, and profile identity of internet users. That way, cybercriminals may use victims’ identity to access their accounts or conduct other crimes using the victim’s identity. Notably, the CFAA, which concerns the prosecution of cybercrimes, does not address such vulnerabilities. In the same way, ECPA addresses instances where privacy breaches may arise in communication during storage or transits. However, cybercriminals may intrude during the composition of messages and obtain information through typing patterns (Longi et al., 2015). Hence, the two legislations have not kept pace with technology.
The lagging of legislation influences consumption patterns in a society. For instance, people are most likely to consume products that shield them from cybercrimes, despite the lagging behind of legislation. Regarding computer systems, Linux is considered the most secure operating system, which has led to an increase in the consumption of its products (Kalberg, 2018). The consumption trends affect both consumer behavior and the future development of certain technologies.
References
Kalberg, J. (2018). Five Trends Influencing Linux’s Growth at the Endpoint | Linux Journal. Retrieved 2 May 2020, from https://www.linuxjournal.com/content/five-trends-influencing-linuxs-growth-endpoint
Longi, K., Leinonen, J., Nygren, H., Salmi, J., Klami, A., & Vihavainen, A. (2015). Identification of programmers from typing patterns. Proceedings Of The 15Th Koli Calling Conference On Computing Education Research – Koli Calling ’15. doi: 10.1145/2828959.2828960
McNicholas, E., & Angle, K. (2019). Cybersecurity 2020 | Laws and Regulations | USA | ICLG. Retrieved 2 May 2020, from https://iclg.com/practice-areas/cybersecurity-laws-and-regulations/usa
Strickler, M. (2015). IBA – Recent U.S. trends in cybercrime prevention – Criminal Law/Business Crime Committees newsletter article, June 2015. Retrieved 2 May 2020, from https://www.ibanet.org/Article/Detail.aspx?ArticleUid=b0b13048-bf60-4bed-a097-909bec1b4008#_edn5