This Blog is for my class Technology as a Human Affair.

Technology and Crime

Throughout American History, technology has always been the driving force behind our advancement. In regards to our independence, expansion as a nation, wars we have fought, industrialization, or the technological revolution we are in now, technological innovations have powered America and formed into what it is today. Anthough most technology in the modern day was designed with the intention of helping people, there is an equal amount of technology that is used to to help criminals and to try and take advantage of citizens.

Modern criminals have a vast amount of tools that can be used in order to help them in many tasks such as Identity theft, burglary, and tracking devices that make it difficult to be found by authorities. whioe the invention of the credit card has made it much easier for people to shop online, go through checkout lines quicker, and has made it easier to transfer funds into different accounts and keep track of how your money is spent, it has also made it easier for criminals who want to know your information. modern thieves can aquire trackers that read the information off of your credit card, drivers lincense, or any other personal indentification card that you carry with you that holds important information. the thief can simply have the scanner in his pocket and can take your information while your walking to work, while your sitting in your house, really anywhere that is convient for the thef. new hacking tools can be used that allow criminals to hack into your private internet at home, acquire personal information such as your bank account, work schedules, contact lists, without you knowing. many burglars use this same technology to figure out which houses to rob. Houses that have an advanced firewall or multiple systems are usually full of technological goodies (which are very easy to make quick money with at pawn shops, or by selling them) and simple monitoring alerts the burglars when the best time to rob the house is.

Technological Fixes

Although it is easy to blame technology as the culprit behind all of the deeds just mentioned the real responsibility is on people who use good things for evil purposes. there are many devices being used by law enforcement and government to crack down on these problems. there are also precautions people can take to help them against Identity theft. There are modern wallets made of metal that work as a shield for scanners to steal your information by passing it. Also making sure to keep on top of your firewall, monitor where you go on the Internet, check your computer and devices regularly for viruses and tracking agents/cookies. Advances in DNA have allowed law enforcement agencies to track down crooks with greater ease and accuracy. installation of cameras in police cars allows cops to drive and simultaneously scan the license plates of cars in front of them/ behind them/ and even a row of parked cars and search for wanted criminals. Advancements in computer technology have also made tracking where identity

Social Engineering

Although the topic is still controversial, techniques such as subliminal messaging have helped consumers in protecting themselves against cyper criminals and protecting themselves. messages that continusly prompt users to be aware of there passwords, the websites that they visit, the messages that appear when downloading content from the internet are all suttle reminders of what you are doing on line and make sure to keep you concious. for bugalury, the rise of alarm systems in houses has grown substantally since the early 2000's and companies such as ADT are very common around the nation. movies produced by Lifetime Network and TV shows such as To Catch a Preditor have helped to engrain into the public mind that if you use the internet for sinister purposes, you will get caught by the authorities, the conciquences will be severe, and it will be humiliating. this has helped signifcantly in the lowering of online crime.