And if you're on the West Coast, you may have a chance to see Devo live -- they're on a reunion tour and just played here in L.A. last night.

You raise a good point, Mike -- it's probably a lot easier to justify stealing from institutions or corporations than individuals and the unfortunate truth is that technology makes that a whole lot easier than it used to be. The other piece here is that most digital thieves aren't so good about wiping off their fingerprints or leaving no evidence of their entry and exit and interim transactions. I don't intend to do a cyber-crime roundup every week, but there's plenty of material to use if I did.

Terry,

After your response, I have to admit I'm stuck with this mental image of two guys in silly yellow plastic hats singing "We are Devo..." on Saturday Night Live.

We agree that the changes in technology (the engines of commerce) are in each succeeding generation are taken advantage of.

It just concerns me that as we spin further into the world of upbiquitious information, that property rights are being so eroded. We've had some lively discussions on this site about digital rights--and the lack of respect for them that a surprinsing majority seem to have about them.

There was even a post on this thread about "sticking it to the cable company."

And of course, even I said phreaking was "just theft of service."

So maybe it isn't either degeneration, or de-evolution. Maybe it is just distancing ourselves from the problem, and hoping that we don't get caught up in one of the schemes.

I totally agree with your too good to be true sentiment. People seem to think that what would be too good to be true in the physical world, isn't too good to be true when on the internet. There is still a very big disconnect there that I assume will close over time as people become better educated about the scams online.

I didn't think my comments were to hard to understand.

Over the years, a lot of cybercrime has gone un-punished because law enforcement hasn't had the resources/knowledge to actually catch the perpetrators. Is the increase in people actually being arrested and convicted due to an increase in the knowledge of investigators and prosecurtors? Or is it that cybercrime is increasing and therefore we're seeing a higher percentage of people being convicted of these crmes and still the same percentage are getting away with it? Or... could it be that people are more stupid and are less able to cover their tracks?

And I'm not even sure where Pluton is, so I guess that can be ruled out as my home.

Here's a first: Paul and I agreeing on something. I think the prevalence of online crime is likely far greater than we know or can measure. As I was writing the blog, I kept thinking, "This is just the stuff we know about or has been investigated sufficiently to bring charges." I think this is the tip of the iceberg; how large the ice is anybody's guess.

Good insights, Kurt, but no, I don't think we're necessarily degenerating. I think people evolve (up or down the contunuum -- your call) to find the gaps between what the law allows and what the technology enables. And it's not new... the robber barons and oil tycoons of more than 100 years ago practiced this ethos; more recently Enron, Countrywide, Madoff, and countless others offered their own special refinements. 

Somewhat similar in nature, is the case of the couple that used fake companies to fraud customers and in turn make millions by using Cisco's Warranty Program. This was a large scam targeting companied who wanted a cheaper way out of Cisco's Warranty.

Just proves that no one can be trusted and the old saying of "If it's too good to be true, it probably is."

I really can't make any sense from your comments. Are you suggesting that the law enforcement agencies are catching too many cybercriminals? "Frequency of the crime is not increasing quickly"? Are you just from Space?? It means you have been living somewhere around Pluton all these years if you don't know that cybercrime is readily on the increase.

I think the underlying fear for folks like us hooked on the internet is just how much of these crimes are going on unnoticed!!!