Misuse of information technology, digital devices and rise of cyber crimes

http://www.cybervictims.org

In India consumption of information technology and electronic mediums for the same has seen steep high since the new millennium. I remember a Tamil movie in the late 1990s which showed how the computers would be used in future; it showed people are literally throwing off their desk tops  to the dustbins since they were “over used”,  people belonging to average income group have the power to buy laptops and grass root level workers are using mobile phones. Nonetheless, I am talking about an era when a desk top computer would have costed not less than twenty thousand rupees ( nearly $400) and an ordinary mobile phone with no device other than device for speaking and hearing would have costed not less than two thousand rupees (nearly $40). Cost of internet and pre paid sim cards for mobile phones were not generally accessible by people belonging to lower to middle income group.  As such, computers and mobile phones were considered to be prized possessions for the creamy layers. India was slowly getting introduced to cyber crimes like hacking. Crimes like child pornography, phishing etc were still considered as “not our problem still now”. Things have changed since then.

            Back in 2012, couple of days ago I was sitting at the railway station waiting for my train which will connect us to the international flight to Sweden. I was online through my husband’s IPad,  searching for some last moment details about the conference we were about to attend in couple of hours. Suddenly a woman shouted at me telling “ you will not spare the computer even at the railway station? be careful.. somebody might steal it.” Stunned, I looked  at her:  the woman must be in her late twenties, in a dirty sari, neatly pinned up here and there. She was a schizophrenic; must have been abandoned by her family and she remembers clearly how the computer screen looks like when one is online.  She sat on the floor near me and from her distracted communication with her imaginary child, I could clearly understand that she was  persuading the child to not to sit with “mobile phones”.  Within an hour or so, I saw another man, a daily wage earner who commutes from nearby place, speaking loudly over his prize possession, a cell phone with camera. I remember another incidence: on my way to Kolkata couple of years back, I got a few co passengers who were contract labourers from north Indian states. A couple of stations later, a young woman boarded the same compartment. She was accompanied by a man who could be her colleague, or even her boyfriend. Both of them looked well educated and professionals. One of the earlier co passengers made good use of his mobile phone; he started clicking the camera device randomly. When the woman noticed it, she instantly demanded not to click her and the owner of the device politely told her that he is getting accustomed to the device and doesn’t know how to handle it......lame excuse indeed. The lady’s companion snatched the phone and found a few pictures of the woman in different poses. He patiently deleted all of them and warned the owner that if he again does it, he will take stern action. The woman was probably spared because the owner of the device got down in the next halt without making any more attempt to ruin the peace.

What did I learn from all these incidences? Digital technology if put in wrong hands, can be devastating.  We can divide the cyber miscreants in two different sects: one who do it for fun; one who don’t do it for fun. There are numerous examples  of sexting cases, phone bullying cases involving children where you can see the  first sect of miscreants.  In many such  US court cases, defence had established ignorance of the accused. But what about miscreants who are not minors and who intentionally mishandle it for the purpose of experimenting the devices? Basically we can do nothing. There is no law in any country which prohibits ignorant persons from possessing a digital device with information and communication technology, be it a computer, or a mobile phone.  But off course, experience can turn an ignorant into a mighty individual. I sadly note that when laymen such as the above gather experience in handling the devices, the results may not be good. My assumption may not testify all, but surely would testify some.   The devices have inbuilt mechanism and the internet always opens it doors with both good and bad shades, which allures new users to experiment. This can lead to devastating effect including hacking and sexual offences of cyber space. What these people lack actually is the knowledge of cyber etiquette. Remember the old tradition of  attaching license for possessing radio? Perhaps it is time now for the companies making computers and electronic gadgets like the cell phones to think of attaching a module of user manual including etiquettes  with their products. May be this could bring down purposeful mishandling of the devices which gives rise to various sorts of cyber crimes.

Or you need to believe..... no gain no pain...

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