Law Enforcement Combating Deep Web Criminal Activity Essay

The Internet was first used in the nineteen sixties by a small group of technology professionals. Since then the internet has become an essential part of today’s world, from communicating through texts and emails to banking, studying, and shopping, the internet has touched every aspect of our lives. With the growing use of the internet, protecting important information has become a must. While some believe they have the right to privacy, and feel that the government should not be at the center of their lives. Others feel that the Internet has evolved into a weapon for our enemies, and believe the government must take action by proactively

In the United States, local, state, and federal law enforcement agencies, including FBI, Department of Homeland Security, among others, have taken on roles to fight computer crimes and terrorism. The roles and responses of these law enforcement agencies concerning digital crime have created challenges that limit enforcement efforts against digital crime.

The main difficulties that the police agencies face during the online crime investigation include the multi jurisdictions, obtaining the warrant for search and seize, anonymity, significant amount of data, and consistently evolving technologies and techniques(Wall, 2012). Specifically in the online predators crime, the idea of obtaining a warrant is the most critical difficulty the police agencies have. Similarly to other actual physical criminal cases such as murder or assault, the key component in conducting the successful investigation is to identify and obtain the actual evidences that can prove the offense(Power, 2013). However in terms of the cyber crimes, most evidences are contained in the actual computer itself, which, it explains that the

The media’s skewed outlook and reports on the deep web has affected the way the majority of people view this resource that is inherently not a bad tool. The media also misrepresents the deep web by confusing it with the darknet and giving false information about the two. It is easy to get caught in the wave of horror stories that appear in magazines and online content about the deep web and the darknet, but more often than not the deep web is doing more good than is portrayed by the media. The advances in cryptography that is being used within the deep web and the darknet are creating a safer environment for reporters and political activists; even the simple internet user needs cryptography to protect their information stored in the deep web.

Thanks to the current increase of new technology that has helped to shape our societies in different ways. However, with the current increase of online crimes, emerging of radical groups and gang related groups have posed a major and critical balance between public safety and concerns of privacy. But with proper procedures and neutral grounds between the law enforcement and the public, can help to control the situation without any party feel being cheated.

The agencies employed by governments to police the web in order to protect the vulnerable have seen an increase in child pornography and online fraud. The speed at which information can be distributed and the number of people that can be reached attracts those that are intent on causing harm. The term “cybercrime” is becoming more widely used. The financial gains that can be made and the anonymity the internet can provide, make the virtual world of cyberspace a haven for criminals. Although the internet has huge benefits for information gathering and social networking, in the wrong hands it can cause harm to the vulnerable and criminals are able to vanish into the underground with the use of false identities that are hard to track online.

The sharing of information may well be the most advanced activity of the twenty-first century occurring across ages and backgrounds with relative ease. Nevertheless, the use of information that is aired through the internet raises several genuine concerns regarding nature, intent, source, and destination as well as the consequences of the content. This is particularly true when the information has to do with people 's identities and other activities that may touch on critical aspects of national security and unauthorized business. As such, there is a mix of reactions among individuals regarding the extent of privacy they would like regarding information that they share or retrieve on the internet. While some may have genuine concerns such as protecting their identity, others are on malicious tracks to cover their person and conduct unwarranted business on the web. The mix of concerns led to the rise of the Dark Web on darknets. A darknet is an overlay network that utilizes the public Internet but requires authorization or special software to access mainly to protect the user’s identity and location from network surveillance and traffic analysis (Sui, Caverlee & Rudesill 2003). Such trends on the internet raise the question; is the Dark Web an important and necessary tool to offset pervasive online surveillance in contemporary society or is the moral panic surrounding the Dark Web in global news media justified? The aim of this research is to answer the raised question

Jurisdiction is the most prominent issue for enforcement officers to deal with international crimes stemming from the deep web. There are illegal markets for gambling, weapons, explosives, assassinations, exotic animals, terrorism and hacktivism all of which can be accessed by anyone in the world if they knew the right ways to get in. The darknet has an international customer base, and cases can get even more complicated when criminals from different countries start to work together. Questions of which country’s law should be followed and what punishment should be given arise, and not all parties involved end up satisfied. While it is impossible to please everyone with a trial and punishment, having an international court disfuses any issue concerning jurisdiction in order to deal with the criminal.

With the ever-changing dynamics of the Internet and its vast freedom, the United States government needs to update its laws and create new laws to adapt to technology today. Currently, there are laws today such as the Electronic Communications Privacy Act (ECPA) that were passed in order to incorporate government surveillance into the electronic age; however, “it has not [been] meaningfully updated since the advent of the World Wide Web” (1264). The Internet has been in existence since 1969—and since the ECPA has not been updated since then, it is outdated. With such an outdated and ineffective law, there needs to be changes made to public policy in correlation with perpetually changing technology to protect the privacy rights of American citizens across social networks. The CrimPC system is an ideal system to construct new privacy protection and surveillance laws that do not violate the American Constitution, as “CrimPC regulates more surveillance techniques than ECPA [by] restricting the use of undercover agents in law enforcement; neither the ECPA nor any United States statute or constitutional provision regulates undercover operatives” (1268).

The Department of Justice report entitled "Investigations Involving the Internet and Computer Networks" (2007) states that the Internet may be used by criminals for various reasons including the trading or sharing of information, concealing or assuming another identity, identifying and gathering information on victims and communicating with co-conspirators. The Internet may also be used by criminals for the distribution of information or alternatively misinformation and for the coordination of meetings,

The internet has brought upon a new revolution of global interconnection where contacting someone on the other side of the world is just a click away, but with this international phenomenon comes an increased susceptibility with unfamiliar technology. Internet crime is compiled of all non-physical crime with the aid of a computer. Although broad in definition internet crimes are largely composed of acts such as cyber fraud, ‘phishing’ (username and password hacking), cyber stalking and hacking. Internet crime does not pose an overwhelming issue in society in terms of its

Throughout time, privacy and security have been two heavily debated topics. There has always been a struggle to find middle ground between a private environment and a secure environment, but the dawn of technology and the Internet has made this struggle even more difficult. The Internet has drastically decreased the expectation of privacy of any and all individuals that have ever used it. Technology in general can pose a threat to an individual’s physical and virtual security. The Internet has also brought forth a sense of anonymity to those looking to conceal their true identities, some of which plan to commit horrific crimes. Privacy and security go hand in hand, however security is by far the most important.

In today’s world, we are all in some way connected to or involved with the internet. We all use different services that we feel either enrich our lives or make them more enjoyable every day, from email to FaceBook, MySpace, and e-commerce. We all take a sort of false comfort in the basic anonymity of the internet; however, when we think about it, that could end up being the single biggest risk to our own safety today. When we typically think of crimes committed against us, we could probably name several: mugging, theft, scams, murder, and rape. For these, things we all take as many necessary steps as we can to help lower the chances of them happening to us because they are on the forefront of our minds. However, most of us don’t take the

Internet privacy is the security of a user’s personal data that is stored or published on the internet. The internet is an important part of every individual’s daily life. In today’s society, the internet is used by many different people for many reasons. It can be used for research, communication, and purchasing items. Without the internet, many things that are completed during the course of a day would be impossible or take time to complete. As people use the internet, everything is stored in a database that tracks and keeps any personal information that is entered by users. As users continue to use the internet to complete important tasks such as purchasing items and paying bills, their privacy and security become at risk. Although the internet can be seen to have a positive impact on society, it does have a negative impact. Since the internet can be accessed by anybody it can cause a lot of damage. Examples of internet risk include identity thieves, phasing, and scams. Due to things such as online shopping, banking and other e-commerce options, personal information is stored in the internet enabling many cybercrimes to occur. Cybercrimes are very similar to any regular crime; the crime just happens to take place on websites for criminals to hack and steal user’s information for their own personal benefit. Cybercriminals tend to attack users based on their emails, social media accounts, and web history because the most history about an individual is stored in those sites.

If there is nothing done about cyber hacking, money, and important resources will be stolen from innocent people trying to live a successful life. “Cyber-crime units exist within local, state, federal, and international law enforcement agencies. The Federal Bureau of Investigation (FBI) plays a critical role investigating crimes committed through the Internet” (Dingwell).