torsdag 3. oktober 2013

ASSIGNMENT #2: ANALYSIS OF AN ONLINE CRIME

Assignment – Disinhibition
Article: Manhattan U.S. Attorney And FBI Assistant Director-In-Charge Announce Arrest Of NYPD Detective For Computer Hacking

Summary
A 42 year old detective in the New York City Police Department (NYPD), Edwin Vargas, was on 21st of May 2013 arrested for computer hacking crimes. He illegally gained access to dozens of people's e-mails and other personal information by hiring an e-mail hacking service. He also accessed the National Crime Information Center (NCIC) database without authorization. On Vargas' e-mail, FBI found that he had bought at least 43 personal e-mail accounts and one cellular phone belonging to at least 30 different people, mostly people affiliated with the NYPD. He allegedly paid more than $4,000 to gain access to these e-mail accounts, and was charged with one count of conspiracy to commit computer hacking and one count og computer hacking.

Source

Disinhibition effect
The social norms that molds our interactions becomes less prominent when we are online. That is the disinhibition effect; how people act differently online than they do offline. The actions of Edvin Vargas, a NYPD detective, shows how different his actions online are from his real life. Being an officer of the law, one can assume he knows what he did was wrong. A factor that motivated Vargas might be the disinhibition by invisibility. By being able to read e-mails without the owner's premission and with less risk of being caught than if he went through the mailboxes outside their homes. The article does not say if his main objective was to peep into co-workers personal life or if he had some other agenda, but the invisibility may have removed the last inhibition he had about prowling in other's e-mail accounts. Usually, by logging onto e-mail accounts with the correct password there will be no visible trace of anyone being there. 

The disinhibition of invisibility tests people's ability to respect each other's privacy, and is one of the many problems our society faces. Some people argue that the disinhibition effect free deeper aspects of intrapsychic structure; that this shows the police detective's true colors. Whether or not that is the case – as FBI Assistant Director-in-Charge stated “Of all places, the police department is not a workplace where one should have to be concerned about an unscrupulous fellow employee”

Written by
Iselin Roberg

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