Careless and casual, Internet users don’t see abusive content as crime

While many people knowingly commit crime in cyberspace, there are many others who don’t realise that using the Internet to settle scores by sending abusive or obscene or misleading content is a crime for which they can be arrested, say experts.HT reports.

While many people knowingly commit crime in cyberspace, there are many others who don’t realise that using the Internet to settle scores by sending abusive or obscene or misleading content is a crime for which they can be arrested, say experts.

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Data with the National Crime Records Bureau has revealed sexual harassment is the second biggest cyber crime in Maharashtra, after fraud. Of the 393 cyber crimes registered in the state in 2011, 96 pertained to fraud and 74 to harassment.

Nandkishore More, senior inspector at Bandra-Kurla Complex cyber police station, said, “People don’t realise that in the process of creating a fake profile or sending abusive/ obscene content through email ids created in someone else’s name, they are committing a crime under the Information Technology Act.”Giving an example, an officer from the Mumbai police cyber cell said that after a man complained he was receiving obscene emails and obscene profiles had been created under in his name, they questioned his former girlfriend.

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Luckily for her, the complainant did not press any charges. “She didn’t realise that what she had done amounted to a cyber crime, which is often the case,” the officer said.

The other problem is people unintentionally send objectionable content, said cyber expert Vijay Mukhi.

“A year ago, an employee with a city-based firm sent a video clip to a woman with some jokes with sexual innuendo. The woman didn’t like it, filed a complaint and he was arrested,” he said. “The line between what’s obscene and what’s not is hazy. One needs to be careful while sending a mail that can be interpreted otherwise.”

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