Reference Reviews

Doug’s Student Reference Room

Cyber Crime, edited by Louise I. Gerdes. 213 p. Farmington Hills, MI: Greenhaven Press, 2009. ISBN 13: 978-0-7377-4200-8. $37.40.

Over the Independence Day weekend this year, the Treasury Department, Secret Service, Federal Trade Commission and Transportation Department were all the targets of hackers who managed to temporarily shut down these agencies’ Web sites. As we become more and more dependent on Web-based systems to manage our personal lives, business, government and even military operations, the stakes grow in protecting ourselves from cyber crimes. This new volume in the Opposing Viewpoints series explores a range of related issues, including identity theft, cyber-terrorism, Internet piracy and online predators. Chapters examine the extent of each problem, contributing factors, ways individuals and companies can reduce the impact of cyber crime and the effect a variety of laws may have in preventing cyber crime. Of particular interest to high school students will be discussions of the magnitude of the online predator threat; one article states the threat is large and growing, while another claims the threat is small and actually decreasing. Also of interest will be the articles concerning Internet piracy. Sharing of music files is ubiquitous with teens; many readers will be challenged by discussions of intellectual property and the idea that sharing such files constitutes theft. One essay offers a shifting perspective on intellectual property and points out that many artists have benefited greatly from the exposure the Internet affords. The articles in this collection represent an excellent starting point for examining the broad spectrum of issues related to cyber crime. As with other volumes in this series, each entry includes discussion questions as part of the introduction; each chapter ends with a select periodical bibliography and the volume concludes with an annotated list of relevant organizations, a short bibliography of books and a general index. Highly recommended for high school libraries.