Safer Internet: Let’s kick off the conversation

Published : 29 August 2015, 06:02 AM
Updated : 29 August 2015, 06:02 AM

When we talk about technology and crime, or technological crime, we probably refer to crimes using new technologies, that is information and communication technologies (ICTs).

It is very difficult to define, as new technologies continue to emerge and the examples become redundant. In some cities in some countries, burglary is a forgotten thing, thanks to burglar alarms.

Closed-circuit TV cameras solve a lot of problems but they create quite a few more. Surveillance helps, serving as a powerful deterrent. But all these prying eyes of cameras installed in the name of security become a huge nuisance for some of us; citizens' groups often raise their voice about invasion into our privacy.

At times, these surveillance cameras have caught images not authorised by the law. We have one recent example in Bangladesh. Grooming and other personal service provider, Persona, was allegedly going beyond limits and suddenly found itself in the news headlines for these reasons.

Carjacking once became very common even in countries where the car population outstripped the human population. There came the technology – alarms, tracking devices, keys with ability to read its owner's fingerprints – to supplement all the other existing ways of finding or tracking down a stolen car.

For someone who is neither a techie, legal professional, nor law enforcer but merely a news-gatherer and publisher, the perspective is different. In my struggle to put something together in this particular case, I consulted my colleagues and friends who take interest in such matters.