Criminal misuse of computers is on the national agenda once more.
On Tuesday last, Minister of Commerce and Trade Senator Haynesley Benn told a LIME conference on technology security and efficiency that his ministry would be working to have Barbados ratify the Convention On CyberCrime.
This initiative should be supported because cybercrime is the kind of activity that usually involves the digital and electronic crossing of national boundaries.
The stories are legion about innocent people being duped by electronic messages into disclosing bank and other financial information, which is then accessed to their detriment and the financial benefit of the fraudster.
The deviant and those of criminal disposition in our midst have been quick to turn the application of the technology to criminal activity, and the nimble fingers of some young, and not so young, people have made it necessary for enabling legislation to be enacted aimed at curbing mischievous and criminal behaviour in cyberspace.
Sometimes too, the illegal capturing of online information revealed in perfectly wholesome and legal activities becomes the foundation for similar filching and stealing of funds from the accounts of customers of financial institutions. The allegations of hacking into telephones by some British journalists are clear illustrations why international cooperation is immediately required if we are to make a frontal attack on the several types of crimes peculiar to the new technology.
Some weeks ago, a senior officer of the Royal Barbados Police Force addressed the matter of cybercrime at a public gathering and reassured Barbadians that the police were keeping a close watch on the criminal use of the computer and that they were progressive in their thinking, so as to keep one step ahead of the criminal in cyberspace.
We already have a Misuse Of Computers Act and an Electronic Transactions Act, and Senator Benn has now promised a Data Protection Act. Barbadians will support these efforts by the authorities, since people need to feel sure that their personal financial and other information is protected.
Yet, perhaps the most important task will be to ensure that the police and other relevant agencies are kept abreast of the fast changing technology. Knowledge is now a major aspect of the arsenal of the would be cyberspace criminal.
We must support the national effort by ensuring at the individual level that we behave responsibly when putting our information online by using all the protective devices available to us. The ratification of the convention and the passing of laws, though very important, do not remove the necessity for personal responsibility.
They complement each other.
