HomeNewsBriefStudy Examines New Front in War on Crime: the Internet
BRIEF

Study Examines New Front in War on Crime: the Internet

CYBERCRIME / 13 DEC 2013 BY CHARLES PARKINSON EN

The Igarape Institute explores the emerging use of technology in violence prevention in Latin America, a recent development for citizen security that is growing alongside the region's Internet boom, as criminals and authorities take their war into the virtual world.

In the report "Digitally Enhanced Violence Prevention in the Americas," published by the Stability International Journal of Security & Development, authors Robert Muggah and Gustavo Diniz discuss the emergence of information and communication technologies (ICTs) as tools increasingly used by authorities and institutions, as well as citizens, to prevent violence. The article also highlights how ICTs have become increasingly used by organized criminal elements in the region, which are sometimes more tech savvy than the authorities pursuing them.

ICTs have surged as connectivity as increased. (See below how Internet penetration in the region compares to the rest of the world.) They are defined as anything using Internet connectivity, ranging from smart phone applications to computer-based activity like blogging. In the hands of authorities, they can take the form of crime mapping systems, or online alert systems, as an alternative to centralized forms of information management, such as hotlines.

Criminals using ICTs include those who have emerged with the digital age, such as identity thieves, and "old" crime groups, such as drug cartels, which have begun using the Internet to issue threats and track victims.

The study encourages authorities to increase the use of such technology to fight crime, highlighting both the possibilities provided by the exponential growth of Internet use in the region and the need to protect people from the new vulnerabilities to criminal activity that they face on the Internet.

diagramone

Internet connectivity in the world, per 100; source: World Bank

InSight Crime Analysis

The rising use of technology to fight crime has been notable in Latin America, with Mexico a prime example. There citizens have overcome the refusal of various media to cover organized crime because of the dangers posed to journalists by establishing so-called "narco-blogs" or managing Twitter accounts that sometimes report the carnage in gruesome detail. For doing so, suspected criminal organizations have issued threats against them, and some have paid with their lives.

SEE ALSO: Coverage of Cyber Crime

Traditional criminal groups have become increasingly active in their use of the Internet, and authorities should seek to meet this growing threat. While the report lauds some of the efforts seen in the region, such as the establishment of dedicated cyber crime departments in police forces, the rapid march of technology demands authorities adapt quickly to these shifting criminal tactics.

share icon icon icon

Was this content helpful?

We want to sustain Latin America’s largest organized crime database, but in order to do so, we need resources.

DONATE

What are your thoughts? Click here to send InSight Crime your comments.

We encourage readers to copy and distribute our work for non-commercial purposes, with attribution to InSight Crime in the byline and links to the original at both the top and bottom of the article. Check the Creative Commons website for more details of how to share our work, and please send us an email if you use an article.

Tags

Was this content helpful?

We want to sustain Latin America’s largest organized crime database, but in order to do so, we need resources.

DONATE

Related Content

BRAZIL / 5 JAN 2022

A recent cyberattack that hit government websites in Brazil, including platforms that track vaccinations and epidemiological data on COVID-19, has…

BRAZIL / 22 NOV 2021

For the last few weeks, the twists and turns in the case of the Pharaoh of Bitcoins have constantly made…

CYBERCRIME / 24 MAY 2022

A doctor operating out of Bolívar City, Venezuela has been charged with designing, operating and selling ransomware tools to a…

About InSight Crime

THE ORGANIZATION

InSight Crime Cited in New Colombia Drug Policy Plan

15 SEP 2023

InSight Crime’s work on emerging coca cultivation in Honduras, Guatemala, and Venezuela was cited in the Colombian government’s…

THE ORGANIZATION

InSight Crime Discusses Honduran Women's Prison Investigation

8 SEP 2023

Investigators Victoria Dittmar and María Fernanda Ramírez discussed InSight Crime’s recent investigation of a massacre in Honduras’ only women’s prison in a Twitter Spaces event on…

THE ORGANIZATION

Human Trafficking Investigation Published in Leading Mexican Newspaper

1 SEP 2023

Leading Mexican media outlet El Universal featured our most recent investigation, “The Geography of Human Trafficking on the US-Mexico Border,” on the front page of its August 30…

THE ORGANIZATION

InSight Crime's Coverage of Ecuador Leads International Debate

25 AUG 2023

This week, Jeremy McDermott, co-director of InSight Crime, was interviewed by La Sexta, a Spanish television channel, about the situation of extreme violence and insecurity in Ecuador…

THE ORGANIZATION

Human Rights Watch Draws on InSight Crime's Haiti Coverage

18 AUG 2023

Non-governmental organization Human Rights Watch relied on InSight Crime's coverage this week, citing six articles and one of our criminal profiles in its latest report on the humanitarian…