Computer professionals are grappling not only with issues of free speech and civil liberties, but also with how to educate the public and the media to the difference between on-line computer experimenters. They also point out that, while the computer networks and the results are a new kind of crime, they are protected by the same laws and freedom of any real world domain. On paper and on screens a popular new mythology is growing quickly in which computer criminals are the 'Butch Cassidys' of the electronic age. They are inspired by scores of real life cases. Computer crimes are not just crimes against the computer, but it is also against the theft of money, information, software, benefits and welfare and many more.
Computer crimes can take on many forms.
Swindling or stealing of money is one of the most common computer crime. Credit Card scams are also a type of computer crime. This is one that fears many people and for good reasons. A fellow computer hacker that goes by the handle of Raven is someone who uses his computer to access credit data bases. In a talk that I had with him he tried to explain what he did and how he did it.