Abstract
Misused computing is a threat that secure computing practices will not mitigate. When computing is misused, security is usually not breached. Instead, normally legitimate computing capabilities are used to harm individuals and society. Many innovations have both good and bad consequences. Today, many of the bad consequences of computing, such computer fraud and fake news on social media, are prominent and undeniable. We can’t stop child pornography with better backup practices or stronger passwords. In many cases, our laws do not clearly distinguish between harmful and innocuous practices. However, with improved understanding of the issues, we can change laws and plan for a better future.
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- 1.
See Pamela Vagata, Kevin Wilfong, “Scaling the Facebook data warehouse to 300 PB,” April 10, 2014. https://code.facebook.com/posts/229861827208629/scaling-the-facebook-data-warehouse-to-300-pb/ . Accessed April 2016. According to this article, Facebook stores 600 TB per day. As study in 2000 estimated the physical holdings of the library to be 10 TB. Peter Lyman, Hal Varian, “How Much Information?” School of Information Management and Systems, University of California, Berkeley, 2000. www2.sims.berkeley.edu/research/projects/how-much-info/how-much-info.pdf . Accessed April 2016. According to these numbers, Facebook takes in the equivalent of 60 Libraries of Congress per day.
- 2.
See Michael Agresta, “What Will Become of the Library?” Slate, April 22, 2014. www.slate.com/articles/life/design/2014/04/the_future_of_the_library_how_they_ll_evolve_for_the_digital_age.html . Accessed April 2016.
- 3.
Joel Hruska, “How telcos plan to make billions by selling and combining customer data,” ExtremeTech, October 28, 2015. www.extremetech.com/extreme/216988-how-telcos-plan-to-make-billions-by-selling-combining-customer-data . Accessed April 2016.
- 4.
Charles Duhigg, “How Companies Learn Your Secrets,” The New York Times, February 16, 2012. www.nytimes.com/2012/02/19/magazine/shopping-habits.html . Accessed March 2016.
- 5.
See Lorenzo Franceschi-Bicchierai, “The 10 Biggest Revelations From Edward Snowden’s Leaks,” Mashable, June 5, 2014. http://mashable.com/2014/06/05/edward-snowden-revelations/ . Accessed April 2016.
- 6.
The extent of Hoover’s vagaries may be exagerated, but his abuse was clear. The view is this article seems to be fairly well-balanced: Kenneth D. Ackerman, “Five myths about J. Edgar Hoover,” The Washington Post, November 9, 2011. www.washingtonpost.com/opinions/five-myths-about-j-edgar-hoover/2011/11/07/gIQASLlo5M_story.html . Accessed April 2016.
- 7.
This article chronicles a particularly disturbing example of doxing among many. Swatting, maliciously directing a SWAT team to a victim’s resident, frequently accompanies doxing. Jason Fagone, “The Serial Swatter,” The New York Times Magazine, November 24, 2015. www.nytimes.com/2015/11/29/magazine/the-serial-swatter.html?_r=1 . AccessedApril 2016.
- 8.
For an example, see Lloyd Grove, “Malcolm Gladwell’s Plagiarism Problem,” The Daily Beast, December 11, 2014. www.thedailybeast.com/articles/2014/12/11/malcolm-gladwell-s-plagiarism-problem.html . Accessed April 2016. As this article points out, plagiarism is often complex and ambiguous.
- 9.
In this example, also cited in Chapter 3, a specialized machine has been built up from standard components for password cracking. Dan Goodin, “25-GPU cluster cracks every standard Windows password in <6 hours,” Ars Technica, December 2012. http://arstechnica.com/security/2012/12/25-gpu-cluster-cracks-every-standard-windows-password-in-6-hours/ . Accessed February 2016.
- 10.
Computing capacity is not the only factor in the battle, but it is an important one. Clever encryption algorithm and equally clever encryption breaking techniques are also critical, but increasing computing capacity always changes the encryption landscape.
- 11.
“The disturbing world of the Deep Web, where contract killers and drug dealers ply their trade on the internet” Daily Mail, October 11, 2013. www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-2454735/The-disturbing-world-Deep-Web-contract-killers-drug-dealers-ply-trade-internet.html #. Accessed March 2014. This article describes several sites that appear to be murder for hire. However, there have not been any murders attributed to a darknet site. The lack of verified murders may show that the sites are effective or that the idea is a hoax.
- 12.
Yasha Levine, “Almost Everyone Involved in Developing Tor was (or is) Funded by the US Government,” Pando, July 16, 2014. https://pando.com/2014/07/16/tor-spooks/ . Accessed April, 2014.
- 13.
The Tor website describes a collection of applications and tools for working with Tor. www.torproject.org/index.html.en . Accessed April 2016.
- 14.
Federal Bureau of Investigation, “‘Dark Market’ Takedown,” October 20, 2008. www.fbi.gov/news/stories/2008/october/darkmarket_102008 . Accessed April 2016.
- 15.
Nate Andersen, Cyrus Farivar, “How the feds took down the Dread Pirate Roberts,” Ars Technica, October 2, 2013. http://arstechnica.com/tech-policy/2013/10/how-the-feds-took-down-the-dread-pirate-roberts/ . Accessed April 2016.
- 16.
Benjamin Weiser, “Ross Ulbricht, Creator of Silk Road Website, Is Sentenced to Life in Prison,” New York Times, May 29, 2015. www.nytimes.com/2015/05/30/nyregion/ross-ulbricht-creator-of-silk-road-website-is-sentenced-to-life-in-prison.html?_r=0 . Accessed April 2016.
- 17.
Alastair Stevenson, “It only took 2 weeks for the world’s most dangerous hacking forum to get back online after the FBI shut it down,” Business Insider, July 28, 2015. www.businessinsider.com/darkode-admin-returns-with-new-and-improved-hacking-site-2015-7 . Accessed April 2015.
- 18.
Loucif Kharouni, “Darkode is down again, don’t call a Sp3cial1st!” Damballa, July 29, 2015. www.damballa.com/darkode-reloaded/ . Accessed April 2015.
- 19.
See Antonya Allen, “High Frequency Trading Cuts Volatility: Professor,” CNBC, August 31, 2011. www.cnbc.com/id/44337362 . Accessed April 2014. Not everyone agrees that high frequency trading is positive in every circumstance. For a more nuanced and somewhat more difficult to follow report, see Marvin Wee, “Market volatility is here to stay, but high-frequency trading not all bad,” The Conversation, September 15, 2015. http://theconversation.com/market-volatility-is-here-to-stay-but-high-frequency-trading-not-all-bad-46615 . Accessed April 2015.
- 20.
The Economist Online, “What caused the flash crash? One big, bad trade,” The Economist, October 1, 2010.
- 21.
Andrei Kirilenko, Albert S. Kyle, Mehrdad Samadi, Tugkan Tuzun, “The Flash Crash: The Impact of High Frequency Trading on an Electronic Market,” Commodity Futures Trading Commission, May 5, 2014. www.cftc.gov/idc/groups/public/@economicanalysis/documents/file/oce_flashcrash0314.pdf . Accessed April 2014. This paper does not blame high frequency trading for the initiation of 2010 event, but it does say that it exacerbated the event.
A similar event occurred in the US Treasury market. A report on this event does not assign blame to high frequency trading, but does recommend further attention to the markets. U.S. Department of the Treasury, Board of Governors of the Federal Reserve System, Federal Reserve Bank of New York, U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission , U.S. Commodity Futures Trading Commission, “Joint Staff Report: The U.S. Treasury Market on October 15, 2014” July 13, 2015. www.treasury.gov/press-center/press-releases/Documents/Joint_Staff_Report_Treasury_10-15-2015.pdf . Accessed April 2016.
- 22.
U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission , “SEC Charges New York-Based High Frequency Trading Firm With Fraudulent Trading to Manipulate Closing Prices,” Press Release, October 16, 2014. www.sec.gov/News/PressRelease/Detail/PressRelease/1370543184457#.VEApEfnF_pU . Accessed April 2016.
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© 2017 Marvin Waschke
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Waschke, M. (2017). Misuse of Computers. In: Personal Cybersecurity. Apress, Berkeley, CA. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-1-4842-2430-4_5
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DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/978-1-4842-2430-4_5
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