Cybercrime

Last class session, I was shocked at how cybercrime can actually ruin one’s life. True, I’ve heard many stories about using the internet to commit crimes but not to the extent of actually impersonating a person and soliciting free sex/rape using that person’s name.

If it happened in another country, it can certainly happen to us and to our loved ones. If we really think about it, it seems that we are helpless to combat this situation. If a technologically advanced country, such as the United States, is still vulnerable to these kinds of threats, then more so in our case. For example, anybody can go to yahoo.com and create an email account using another’s name. One can also create a facebook account using the email created and then start the process of impersonating someone.

What then should we do? I think that this leaves us no other solution but to require registration of computers and users. Initially, I was thinking that it would be cumbersome and that it would require some intrusion to privacy. However, such is worth the risk considering the magnitude of the effect if such crimes were committed.

We should also require some monitoring in our network. There are some Philippine websites now which actually offer sexual favours in exchange for money. Anyway, all crimes committed with the use of technology should seriously be stopped. We should do this not only for the revival of our morals or for ourselves but also for the future generation as well.

ENTRY #14

John Joseph S. Parco