cyber-extortion/blackmail

Useful article to think about the following points:
-relationship btw internet and crime
- transnational crime (across boundaries of countries), making it easier to commit a crime without havig to be physically there, hene more difficult for police to arrest you? Not so easy to just go and arrest someone in a different country
- power of the internet: extensive reach, beyond boundary of countries and time zones;  overcome time and geographical barriers
- making friends online -- pros and cons
-intrusion of privacy
- anonymity giving illusion of safety to potential victims, but cloak of anonymity is also the reason why perpetrators use the internet to commit crime  (anonymity in this sense is not so much u can't see the person, but that the person u see in the webcam is a total stranger, i.e. u can see the person, but u dont know who he or she actually is).
- how internet/technology has influenced our behaviour (not just in committing crime but also in letting down our guard)
- the statistics given in the article not very accurate concerning the amount involved in the blackmail. One particular case involved almost $100,000 ($97,000 to be exact)...click HERE to read.
-need for media-literacy or govt intervention/regulation

article 1a

article 1b