Contemporary issues:
Cyberspace
By Toby and Michael
S
Introduction
Cyber space is the environment in which electronic
communication occurs; the culture of the internet.
The Nature of Cyberspace
S There are three distinctive features of cyberspace:
• It facilitates anonymity – it allows anyone to say anything and
remain anonymous, or have a fake identification.
• Creativity – the internet allows for information and service to
be accessible to almost anybody. Individuals or groups can
create software and further develop the internet.
• Global – the internet is accessible globally. Individuals from
different countries can communicate and international online
communities may be established. Information or ideas can be
spread across countries.
Cybercrimes
S A cybercrime is criminal activities committed via the use of
the internet and computers.
S Types of Cybercrime may include:
•
•
•
Hacking
Internet fraud
Spam
Hacking (Cybercrime)
S
Hacking is an unauthorized access to data held in a computer or computer system.
Changing data and interfering with electronic communication between devices is
also considered hacking.
S
The Cybercrime Act 2001 (Cth) recognised offences pertaining to computers, data and
the internet. These offences are recognised as federal offences under the legislation.
Although in some cases they can be charged under the states powers.
In some cases such as R v Boden (2002) in Queensland they can be
both charged under laws that do not directly relate to cyberspace. In
this case Boden hacked into the sewage system pumps which released
a million liters of sewage around the sunshine coast area. He was
then charged under the terms of the Criminal Code 1899 (Qld) which
prohibits the use of identification information to commit an
indictable offence.
Internet Fraud
S
Fraud is intentional misrepresentation or concealment in order to deceive
or mislead.
S
Internet fraud can be carried in a number of ways often with conjunction
to hacking.
S
Fraud may also be perpetrated through the use of fake websites.
S
An example of internet fraud is a scam, which is an attempt to obtain
money through deception.

Email scams – these are well known scams. Often they promise large rewards for
aiding an organisation or bank with financial difficulty. It involves transferring
money electronically and supplying banking details.

Phishing – this is another common form of a scam where an email is sent asking
for account details.
Spam
S Spam is junk mail received electronically. Most spam is harmless
however, a lot of spam is designed to be damaging to the recipient.
Spam can be used for the purpose of fraud and can advertise
unwanted items.
S spam act 2003 (Cth) – it is illegal to send unsolicited commercial
electronic messages through email, instant message services (im),
sms, text, phone or multimedia message service (mms). It is
enforced by the Australian Communications and Media Authority
(ACMA). This act also amended other statuaries that allow for the
enforcement against spam.
Law Reform:
S Cybercrimes are new to the legal system
and is continuously changing and so the
law is also required to do so, to protect
peoples rights. Many of these statutory
laws have only been made in the past 20
years.
S For law reform to be effective in the
cyberspace it must be broad and
introduced quickly to keep up with the
dynamic and growing cyberspace.
S ‘Unique Cases’ may arise and the courts
must generate precedents to adapt to
these cases.
Significant Events
S Threats –
S A teenage student threatened to kill two of his teachers and
a school girl on his MySpace website in 2006.
S A guy in WA posted a YouTube video which showed him
making threatening comments towards people of a
particular ethnic and religious groups.
Continued.
S Stalking (online)
S In 2009 an individual from Victoria copied pictures from a
girl’s profile and posted them on adult websites along with
her name and contact details. Police investigated the case.
S In 2011 an American girl received threatening messages and
unwanted gifts from a teenage boy. He was arrested under
stalking.
Continued..
S Defamation
S In 2009 a teenager in SA made a harassment page on Facebook that made
false accusations of a local police officer. He was sentenced to a two year
good behavior bond for defamation.
S Gutnick v Dow Jones & Co Inc. [2001] Victoria VSC was a case in the Victorian
Supreme Court. The case was about the company posting on a financial
journal website labeled ‘Barron’s Online’. It alleged that Gutnick had
irregularities in business dealings with religious charities and with a
convicted criminal Nachum Goldberg. The High Court dismissed an appeal
by Dow Jones to have the court case heard in America, stating it was under
Victorian jurisdiction. Gutnick successfully sued the company for
defamation. The case made the precedent to the place that material is
viewed is where the jurisdiction comes under rather than the location it was
posted at.
Summary on Events
S These events indicate that the law was administered from
existing statutes, and that were not directly related to
cyberspace. This may demonstrate a need for
reforms/amendments in the future to aid interpretation of
statutes and apply them to cybercrimes.
Conditions that gave rise to law
reform
S The increasing frequency of cybercrime is seen as the main condition
of cyberspace law reform. Societies’ views on these crimes have
remained relatively the same; however the increasing frequency of
these crimes are getting the attention of the public.
S This is a graph about the amount of cybercrime cases that are
reported to this website.
Legal Responses
S The law reforms such as the Cybercrime Act 2001 have made
changes such as requiring encryption data to be released
from computers; and banning some security software which
allowed for complete anonymity, which contradicts some of
the common law decisions made in the courts.
S Some laws such as the Cybercrime Legislation Amendment Act
2012 (Cth) have been introduced to allow for greater cooperation with other countries in investigating crimes. Also
some companies may keep records of conversations of
employee’s. Some argue that this legislation is ‘invading
their privacy’.
Difficulties of
Enforcing
(Effectiveness)
S It is mostly anonymous.
S There is no ‘nation boundaries’ so crimes can be committed
across two nations. Therefore it is difficult to enforce or
punish crimes committed in multiple nations. (e.g. which
jurisdiction does it come under?) Another issue is that a
crime in one nation may not be a crime in another in
regards to the cyberspace.
S People can have fake accounts on websites and make it
difficult to identify the individual or group.
S There is a lot of cyber crimes. It makes it difficult to
investigate the crimes if there are so many of them.
Issues of Cybercrimes
(Effectiveness)
S The victims rights are often not held as the perpetrator often
‘gets away’ with the crime.
S Cyber crimes are relatively easy to commit instead of
physically stealing money. (for example downloading a
movie is easier than stealing it from the shop).
THE END 