moduloch asked this question on 3/22/2000:

What are computer crimes

STB56 gave this response on 3/22/2000:

There are litteraly thousands of computer crimes. Hacking is what most people think of when they think of computer crimes. This is a tricky area of the law as well. In order for there to be a crime, there has to be a law against it. Sending a minor pornography over the internet is a computer crime. This is because there is a law against giving minors porn. They can be charged amoung other things with contributing to the delinquency of a minor, as well as giving a minor pornography. The problem that people run into is because the internet is so broad, it covers different states as well as different countries. This becomes an difficult task especially prosecuting someone for giving a minor porn who is say from Sweeden. We need to contact their country and get promission from them to prosecute them or have them prosecute that person for us, see the problem? I do not think that I will be able to give you an exact definition of computer crimes, because they are so numerous. I think a safe definition would be anything that is illegal to do offline that you can do online is probably illegal. Examples would be possessing child porn, stealing from someone, using a stolen credit card to gain items unlawfully, tresspassing(hacking),embezzling, forgery, ect... You should get the idea. So alot of laws in everyday life carry over to the internet, or online. If I was not clear enough or you would like further information I will be more than happy to help you, however computer crimes are very broad.