A cybercrime is the type of law breaking that is of a criminal nature that involves a computer that is targeted or used in the crime itself or a network as a whole. Cyberbullying, on the other hand, is the use of electronic means of communication to send messages of a threatening or intimidating nature to someone (Wall 341). These messages may get sent through electronic equipment such as mobile phones, computers tablets or through communication platforms such as social media. Another significant difference of the two is that cyberbullying is done via any electronic means while cybercrime gets committed through the computers and networks. I agree that with the lawyers and the academics who are for the view that there is no need for more laws that govern the cyber conduct of the people.
There already exists laws that govern this cyber bullying and cybercrimes menace. There is, therefore, no need for the legislation of more. That will just take up taxpayer’s money and time of the legislators who ought to use this time to make other laws. One vital point to note, therefore, is that the need to create new policies while others still exist is not the solution. It gets propagated by the failure to implement the current laws. Therefore, there is a high chance of not implementing the new bills. The surest step to recovery is not making new legislations but making use of the existing ones. The laws passed are not any different from the ones already in place, and thus, they will serve the same purpose. In a nutshell, emphasis should be put on the implementation and interpretation of these laws and treating them with the seriousness they deserve. The cyber menace has several negative implications on the affected ones and the rest of the citizens alike (Puzic, par.3).
Social implications
Suicides
Commission of suicide by the victims of cyber bullying is the highlight of this threat. Threatening someone is one thing but doing so to the point of causing this person to contemplate eliminating their lives is a different issue. It only goes to prove the extent to which this matter has gone out of hand. More than one death gets heard of, especially of the weak-hearted victims. It may be all fun for an individual spreading let’s say rumors about another but to the one affected it is a matter of life and death. The Cyber Safety Act of 2013, if implemented, will go a long way in preventing such shameful deaths. The Act, Section 21 states that the person subjecting another to cyberbullying is liable for damages under the law of tort. The rule alone will scare off the potential bullies against such heinous acts. Such penalties will encourage more victims to opt for litigation in court other than committing suicide.
Moral decay
There are high levels of moral degradation among electronic technology users. It is only human to think about the ethical implications of spreading rumors on social media. It is, however, saddening to witness people derive joy and pleasure from spreading rumors about another person. The truth to these rumors themselves gets questioned but as long as they make the rumormongers happy that is all that matters. Most of the gossip spread on the social media platforms are sex-related and thus do wreckage to the reputation of the victims while bringing a kind of satisfaction to the perpetrators. That notwithstanding, the law has a remedy for such crimes including payment of general, special, aggravated or punitive damages.
Personal integrity
Cyberbullying has an effect on the integrity of the victim. The affected develop a low self-esteem among peers and even workmates that start to change their overall output in schools or even workplaces. As a consequence, their personal integrity is lowered as they begin to view themselves differently. That is, however, bound to change if the interpretation of the existing laws and their subsequent implementation gets done. As the Minister of Justice Peter MacKay stressed the aim of the introduction the Bill C-13 is to make the whole of Canada a safer place for its citizens and especially the younger generation. The legal system plans to do this by protecting the personal integrity of the people (Puzic, par. 5).
Political implications
Security
The greatest political implication of cyber bullying and cybercrimes is the safety of the people of Canada. The victims and their families are the worst affected. They live in constant fear of what will happen or who the rumors about them will get to next. They are always intimidated by what people say about them on social media and feel less secure in their country. They lose a sense of security and thus some end up committing suicide or running away from home, and others become truants. As far as cybercrime is concerned, terrorism propaganda is spread on networks through computers, and this creates an environment of panic in the country. Citizens start to feel less secure. Security being a priority of the state gets perfectly dealt with in the existing cyberbullying laws, and their implementation will reduce such cases significantly. Cases of suicides due to cyber bullying will also reduce.
Effects on elections
The cyber criminals may be solicited by political aspirants to hack into the database of their rival candidates and acquire classified and vital information. They then use this information to fight an otherwise good and respected candidate. Thus, affecting the candidature of the opponent and hence making them stop running. These crude methods are not to get associated with any national or political leader at all. Therefore, the laws will help eliminate such people from leading the nation.
Privacy versus safety
The critics of the Bill C-13 argue that it will infringe upon the rights of the Canadians to privacy. The biggest question, however, should be, which is more important, safety or privacy? The implementation of such legislations under the bill aims at ensuring a safer country for all. The policy makers have no interest in or agenda whatsoever to interfere with the private lives of the peaceful citizens. Their primary aim is to protect the lives and dignity of the few Canadians who are vulnerable to fall prey to bullies. These policies through may bring forth heated debate is the surest way to maintaining peace and order while protecting lives. Those committing cybercrimes and cyberbullying others use their right to privacy to do so. Thus curtailing this privilege teaches them a valuable lesson. The innocent ones have nothing to hide. Whereas privacy is a fundamental human right, so is safety and both have to get maintained optimally to ensure justice for all (Fine, par. 6).
Economic implications
The world economy has been hit severally from the activities of cyber criminals whose agenda is to frustrate the human population (Chadwick 275). The government has spent a lot of funds and revenue trying to fight this. Billions of dollars have been pumped in this sector, money which could have been used to improve other sectors of the economy. Multi-billion companies have been scared away from investing in the country due high risks of falling victims to cybercrimes activities. Cybercrime has an effect on both the innovation and creativity of a nation. The small businesses have fallen prey to this menace. They have small systems which get hacked quickly into and information stolen from them. It will be years later when they will realize. By, this time, they have spent fortunes trying to operate their systems only to realize other companies got hold of their operational logistics and stole their information (Puzic, par. 5).
The implementation of the Cyber Safety Act of 2013 would help protect such small enterprises by safeguarding their interests and providing remedies if they get attacked. It will also serve to give a warning to the perpetrators of these crimes. As far as the cyberbullying is concerned, the economic implications are felt through the reduced productivity of the victims. Such a victim will have less drive in while undertaking their daily jobs and as a result, their economic output is affected. Some even forfeit work and others quit working altogether. In the long run, more and more people fall victim and follow similar trends and before we know it a large number is affected, and this brings our economy down. Therefore, the laws in place ought to get implemented to avoid such occurrences in the future (Cyber-safety Act, par.4).
Conclusion
In addition people feel that that cyberbullying is a major threat to the world, they have actually categorized it as being on the same level with terrorism and the like. In fact this is worse because with terrorism it hits you there and then while cybercrimes are hard to detect on the onset. It will take a matter of months and in some instances years to finally feel the pinch. By this time the effect is too much to be dealt with and the results are unbearable. It is therefore on this note that I wish to register my sentiments that cybercrimes get dealt with the seriousness they deserve.
Works cited
Chadwick, Sharlene. Impacts of Cyberbullying, Building Social and Emotional Resilience in Schools. New York: Springer Science & Business Media, 2014.
Puzic, Sonja. Anti-cyberbullying law, Bill C-13, now in effect, 2015. Web.
Feb. 13, 2016. <http://www.ctvnews.ca/politics/anti-cyberbullying-law-bill-c-13-now-in-effect-1.2270460>
Fine, Sean. N.S. judge strikes down cyberbullying law created after Rehtaeh Parsons death, 2015. Feb. 13, 2016 <http://www.theglobeandmail.com/news/national/judge-strikes-down-ns-cyberbullying-law-inspired-by-rehtaeh-parsons/article27718662/>
Cyber-safety Act, SNS 2013, c 2. Web. Feb. 13, 2016 <http://canlii.ca/t/5237b>
Wall, David. Cybercrime: The Transformation of Crime in the Information Age. Cambridge: Polity, 2007. Print.
