07/28/2024

Many people surf the web without realizing that they could potentially be participating in
illegal activity or blatantly disregard that they are. Andriy Slynchuk wrote an article describing 11 different activities that could be deemed as illegal because of what they violate. Streaming platforms, Copyrighted image usage, torrent services, sharing passwords or photos of others, and even bullying and trolling are included in these activities as they violate copyright laws, distribute sensitive personal information of others, and threaten the livelihoods of people.

These activities are an oversight to many because the usage of these platforms and how
people interact with others raises concern in legal matters. Even fraud, recording calls without consent, and the use of the internet without permission can raise concerns in the legal field due to the privacy concerns and motives to breach the privacy of others through malicious means. Many users are aware of usage agreements and still circumvent these by performing malicious activities that are illegal or borderline illegal and can be monitored in order to mitigate crimes from occurring more frequently.

Slynchuk goes on in the article to demonstrate safe practices in order to keep yourself out of trouble. He provides four different practices that are simple for any user to follow, but should help to increase security for a user’s information. Limit the information that is shared to everyone. Once the data is on the internet, it is there indefinitely and can be accessed by different parties through various means or methods. Create strong passwords to decrease the chance that a criminal or hacker can guess it. Many users seem to use simple passwords and use them across all of their accounts, so creating long, alphanumeric passwords with case sensitive letters is a great practice to use in order to hinder attempts at breaking into the account.

The last two that are described are using a VPN and browsing in incognito or private
mode in order to anonymously surf the internet so that information is not easily gained. The internet activity can still be tracked if monitored appropriately, but having a different private network and not allowing for malicious cookies to be used on your system, you are able to protect your information better from being accessed by those trying to break into your accounts and network.

Slynchuk does a great job bringing to light what many internet users may not understand
can be illegal. He also provides solutions so that many users can protect their information from being stolen by criminals who may use malicious links in unofficial streaming sites or through fraudulent means to access accounts. By educating the masses through these articles, many can learn what the threats are in the real world, how to combat them, and how to avoid potentially illegal activities online

References

Slynchuk, A. (2021, June 1). 11 illegal things you unknowingly do on the internet. Clario.
https://clario.co/blog/illegal-things-you-do-online/