CYBERSPACE AND CYBER CRIMES

Cyberspace is such a term, which is not yet completely defined and also has no geographical limitation. It is a term associated with application of the Internet worldwide. It is also called as a virtual space as physical existence of cyberspace is not detectable at all. Cyberspace is “the total interconnectedness of human beings through computers and telecommunication without regard to physical geography. 

Cyberspace is a term coined by science fiction author William Gibson to describe the whole range of information resources available through computer networks. For our purposes, cyberspace is a realm in which communication and interaction between two individuals or between an individual and a computer is facilitated by digital data exchanged over computer networks. This interaction or communication can be used for a host of different purposes.

The Internet is currently the biggest network for linking computers, but cyberspace, as a concept, is independent of the Internet. Cyberspace communication began before the Internet and the World Wide Web, and cyberspace interaction and communication will continue to take place after the Internet is no longer the network of choice.

Currently there is no generic system for identification in cyberspace. It is not possible to absolutely identify an entity or to accurately tell whether an object has a specific characteristic. Digital environments have inherent differences from real space which causes this discrepancy, and when implementing an identity system for cyberspace one needs to consider more than just the architectural nature of the system any system chosen will have the social repercussions which need to be also taken into account.

Identity is a unique piece of information associated with an entity. Identity itself is simply a collection of characteristics which are either inherent or are assigned by another. The colour of a person’s hair is good or bad and whether he is attractive or not is part of a person’s identity which is usually reviewed by another person.

Interactions done in real space inherently carry the identity of the person originating the transaction. Generally, physical traits are carried along in a transaction for example when one purchase a book from a book store, the book dealer may remember the buyer’s face or build.

Here we will discuss about the cyberspace, difference between real space and cyberspace, digital identity, cyber crimes and their prevention mechanisms.

There is no proper definition of Cyberspace yet. Only some concepts have been derived. Cyberspace is the total interconnection of human beings through networked computers and telecommunications without any regard to physical geography. The difference between real space and cyberspace is that the essence of any digital transaction is unbundling. Main problems are to identify the reality. Digital Identity is the mechanism to identify the man or product through digital environment. In the present scenario, digital identity is also often viewed as a commodity. Computer crime and cyber crime seem to be similar but both are different. Computer crime belongs to any individual computer without the Internet connection i.e. physically whereas cyber crime happens in cyberspace through the Internet only.

Cyberspace architecture, which is not properly defined now, is a design in which virtual space transactions are being made through digital environment. Presently the cyberspace identification mechanism is not flexible; there are a number of barriers, for example: social norms, market, legal and architectural, before a cyberspace identity mechanism could be deployed.