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Nearly Every NYC Crime Involves Computers, Says Manhattan DA
jjp9999 writes "Manhattan District Attorney Cyrus Vance says cybercrimes are the fastest growing crimes in New York City, and criminals of all types are finding uses for digital tools. The Epoch Times reports that during a Feb. 28 event, Vance said it has reached a point where 'It is rare that a case does not involve some kind of cyber or computer element that we prosecute in our office — whether it is homicide, whether it's financial crime case, whether it's a gang case where the gang members are posting on Facebook where they're going to meet.' He also noted that organized crime groups in New York are shifting their focus to cybercrime, and that many local criminals are working with international hackers."
Posting your meeting place on FB gives a crime a "computer element"? I guess in the old days looking through the phone book to pick a pawn shop to rob added a "yellow pages element" to the crime. Most criminals wear a watch to make sure they're "on time" or "on schedule". Better add a Timex division to every police force.
So, if I post we are going to meet on Facebook, it is now a cyber crime even if the actual criminal components take place in the real world? That seems a little ludicrous to me. Does mugging someone and taking their iPad count as a cyber crime too?
Nearly every crime involves transportation and communication. This is less of a story about how cybercrime is a threat and we should all unplug from the dangerous internet and worry about the next attack on a major utility company. Rather it's a realization that technology is an extension of our lives now, everything is impacted by it, and that's no different for criminals.
Obviously, computers facilitate crime, so we must register them and their users. Think of the income from this that cities like Detriot desperatly need. And while we are at it, no person under 18 should be allowed to have a cellphone wiht a camera. These facilitate "sexting".
Whatever your taste in crime, there's an app for that.
Questions raise, answers kill. Raise questions to stay alive.
Last week I noticed some items missing from my front porch. I had installed a couple of game cameras to strategically catch my front door. Went back through and had 4 pictures of the guy taking stuff, and two were quite nice since they are 4 megapixel cameras.
Pictures got posted on FB (not by me actually, I hate FB) and I had a name for the sheriffs office by the next morning. Even found his FB page so we could compare pictures.
Doctors destroy health, lawyers destroy justice, universities destroy knowledge, religion destroys spirituality
Nearly anything involves computers...
I'm not sure why crime in NYC is being advertised so much. Is there something magical about that cities crime. Is is the usual Tax or New laws or draconian spying on the *ordinary people*...or something else.
I'm no expert but last time NYC was trolling with http://news.cnet.com/8301-13579_3-57561160-37/nyc-mayor-blames-theft-of-apple-devices-for-uptick-in-crime/ Apple iPhone crime, ironically nothing as exciting as international *hacking* related involved in these crimes, that are apparently so frequent they skew statistics..its just your good old fashioned stealing.
My guess is *tracking* everyone by their phones...My second guess would be firewall NYC.
mail crime! (oooh those kid nappers and their random letters!)
brick crime! Crimes involving bricks!
spraypaint crime! (lets just call it graffiti and be specific please!)
clothing crime!
THOUGHT CRIME!
Fuck, just like people can use a car to kill someone, and I know we must be a pedantic race and create "vehicular homicide" why not just call it MURDER.
My favorite is going to be DRONE crime when its no longer in the hands of only the power elite. RC Terrorists! OMG....
*caution the above post is pedantic, sarcastic, inflammatory, trolly, and generally a poorly written diatribe. It may not be suitable for sane people who like to align themselves with any particular scientific methodologies or political parties. Its definitely not full of journalistic integrity or accuracy.
While I haven't read the article.
Today everything in life requires a computer, to take money out of the bank, going up the elevator, walk through the automatic shop doors, the cctv recording every move in the shop, the alarm system, the opening of the cash register. What's more I'm carrying my smart phone, a credit card.... So far in about 5 minutes and I already can't count how many computers have been involved.
No, the surprising thing is that the idiotic governments see this as any different to a security guard being sat there and manually writing down a list of people passing him, the guy at the cash register maintaining a list of everyone he served at the counter. They need a warrant to take that list, they think just cause it's a computer rather than a human recording the information a warrant can be ignored!
Criminals use any tool at their disposal. Computers are just now another tool in the toolbox. I guess it helps to know the trend.
It is rare today to find a crime that doesn't involve an automobile in some way. As a getaway car, the jacked in a carjacking, or as transportation to the airport for those jumping bail, we very rarely see a case cross our desks these days that does not involve a car.
Therefore, our special car crimes unit needs more money.
AC
Time to outlaw computers and shame "cyber nuts" out of the hobby.
Nearly every crime involves a phone - most phones would qualify as computers.
NYC seem to be aware of the obvious.
But maybe not masters of it yet.
FTFY
This anthrocriminal element is taking over I tell you.
Fugue for Aaron Swartz
Is that they're actually forced by their battle with law enforcement to become more innovative, more adept at their trade if you will, in order to remain free to practice their alternative income schemes. Law enforcement is kept busy with all measure of law breakers. Even the burglar who leaves his wallet behind at the scene of the crime requires an arrest, booking, detective interviews, and prosecution. It has occurred to me that much of law enforcement's time and energy go to plucking low-hanging fruit. Is it any wonder they are losing the battle to adapt technologically?
Happiness in intelligent people is the rarest thing I know.
Ernest Hemingway
The real story is that NYC authorities are now seizing the computers and cell phones of anybody who comes into contact with law enforcement in order to fish for possible crimes.
...when every minor misdemeanor or even purely civil matter becomes a federal felony.
The legal response to progress must not be "harsher punishments for every new generation" to consider computers (including cellphones these days) evil because "even" organized crime uses them, and to treat everyone else (who inevitably has to use them as part of one's daily life as well) like a mobster too - until the whole world becomes a "prison planet". Good to see a DA (possibly unintentionally) acknowledge the real issue in the midst of fearmongering.
Cf. http://www.wired.com/threatlevel/2013/02/aarons-law-amending-the-cfaa/
The Epoch Times? Seriously?
I'm sick of people using the word Cyber like they fucking understand what they are talking about. We need more CYBER OMGZ!!!!111eleventy. Everytime I heard the word "cyber" I want to hook up a 240V mains line to their testicles. Seriously.
Why, just a couple of weeks ago, someone broke into my car, and stole a laptop!
Every crime involves a cell phone. Perhaps we should ban cell phones. Perhaps, cell phones are the cause of all crime. We really don't know. We haven't gotten an studies or research to prove that cell phones are not the cause of criminal activity. Maybe it is the non-ionizing radiation from the microwave transmitters in the cell phones that are altering people's brains so that they are compelled to commit crimes. We can't prove that this is not the case.
Maybe NYC should focus less on sugary drinks and more on cell phones. It's especially bad since cell phones today can connect to the internet so they have the added cyberpressure as well.
This is just a politician building a boogie man, just one more link in the faux argument that the government continues to make regarding privacy in tech, or their desire for lack thereof. I have no idea what party the DA is (nor does it matter), but I can tell you the DA is clearly a shill for the "if you have nothing to hide, why do you care about privacy" crowd
There's absolutely no reason to down vote this post unless you support this kind of government fear mongering.
Fear mongering, to justify warrentless and pervasive "intelligence-gathering". Somehow "regular criminals are using computers to endanger us all!" is expected to resonate.
The network-connected computer is an incidental and pervasive technology. There is a general level of enablement offered by the technology, to all aspects of society. One of these aspect also happens to be organizing commission of crimes.
Crime is defined through three elements: Motive, Opportunity and Willingness. The thrust of the argument is that somehow having a computer enhances "opportunity". This requires no greater caution over the technology than landlines, wristwatches or even street lighting.
The computer is also a passive technology to "intent", like street lighting or automobiles, incidental to the creation of criminal opportunity, as cited by the cops. But there is an insinuation made that the intent aspect is even more heinous, when a computer is introduced as a factor.
Don't fall for it. Stop feds, stop pigs. Whenever, wherever you can.
"Flyin' in just a sweet place,
Never been known to fail..."
Arson, assault, bail jumping, bigamy, breaking and entering, bribing a police officer, carrying a concealed weapon without a permit, cemetery desecration, child abandonment, child abuse, contempt of court, discharging a firearm within city limits, disorderly conduct, disturbing the peace, domestic violence, drug possession, drunk driving, failure to pay child support, incest, indecent exposure, improper disposal of hazardous waste (like contaminated needles), kidnapping, loitering, obstruction of justice, perjury, possessing lockpicks, probation violation, public intoxication, rioting, shoplifting, tampering with a consumer product, trespassing, vandalism, vehicular assault, violating an open container law.
Clearly it all involves computers!
What do they expect? They make it so you don't have to get warrents to tap someone phoneline, so no point in using old technology when you can get better protection with new technology.
Was it a shock when bank robbers stopped using horses and started to use cars to get away?
Was it a shock when robbers stopped using knifes and went with a gun?
Is it a shock that a politician doesn't understand how life works?
Be seeing you...
Some guy tried to shank me with a RAZR.
Time to stop calling everything that smells fishy and involves something vaguely digital in some way "hacking" as we're still doing now.
Besides, we need that word for something else: For celebrating ingenuity.
In an earlier day, I'm sure pretty much the same could have been said of telephones and telephone books, and before that libraries, or even public roads and streets. If it's societal infrastructure and it's used to contact/connect with other people or access information, it's gonna be used A LOT in the commission of crimes.
I'm all for foiling identity thieves and the like, and I realize that cybercrime is a real threat to all of us. However this story should also be recognized as one that serves the best interests of those who are in power and want to remain there, to the point where it might be considered propaganda. Count on it, and others like it, being used as justification for further encroachments on freedom.
'The Economy' is a giant Ponzi scheme whose most pitiable suckers are the youngest among us and the yet-unborn.
"All crime is committed by the living. The punishment is death."
Fascism: An authoritarian and nationalistic right-wing system of government and social organization. See also: NAZI's
The Police are involving computers in every crime because they make it so due to their actions.
What's the first thing that happens when police get involved?
1) They grab the cell phones of any person who is "of interest" and download everything, (recent calls, pics, etc.)
2) They immediately seize all computers/laptops.
The police do this, they are making every crime involve a computer (whether it actually does or not).
That's Cyrus Vance Jr. Cyrus Vance (Secretary of State under Carter) died in 2002.
Computers soon computer commerce will collapse and with it the go go world economy.
Once your bank is cleaned out you never shop or bank on line ever again.
Shredding with weekly fires of the remains becomes your norm.
... for background checks for computer buyers, banning Assault Computers, and hard drives than hold more than 7 GB of storage.
Or don't those count?
he's absolutely right!
frontrunning, insider trading, naked shorting happen thousands of times per SECOND!
& that's before you get into things like MERS...
what? that's not what he meant?
I'm stunned...
This means Bloomberg is going to ban computers next.
Good security is based upon reality and common sense. Common sense is a function of having common knowledge.
From the summary, it sounds as though what they mean is that nearly every NYC *prosecution* involves computer-based *evidence*.
That's very different from saying that every *crime* (i.e. criminal act) involves computers.
I'd bet that there aren't too many people being murdered by Macbook Pros as blunt force objects.
STOP . AMERICA . NOW
So using Facebook is now a hi-tech crime. Do we get increased punishments for using Facebook to commit crimes?
Answer: Probably.
So if you're planning on robbing a bank you should carve your instructions onto giant slabs of granite and swap them down at the local pub. Don't worry, I'm sure the landlord won't be even slightly alarmed. Don't even think of using paper - wouldn't want to be cast as a paper-tech bank robber. I'm reasonably sure the use of paper carries serious jail time. Heck, maybe even using granite slabs will be listed as a crime since you have to use "human readable languages"...that's probably a crime too. Shit, using anything that mankind ever invented to commit a crime is now an additional crime. You're wearing shoes, right?
In other news, white collar criminals robbed the United States and most of the world utterly blind using "Hi-Tech". I didn't see them getting much jail time either.
If you find yourself accused of a felony, expect to have seized everything that you own or are likely to have touched that has or might have any memory in it. You'll get it back on the 32nd of Nevember.
If you were blocking sigs, you wouldn't have to read this.
I'm sure 90% of the crimes for the last 50 years involved a telephone. Meaningless statistic. The flatfeet are more aware of the "computer related" crime because they are not well equipped to deal with them. It's clear that there are too many laws. 100% of the crimes they deal with involve laws. Get rid of 50% of the laws and crime rates will plummet.