Russian (internet) mafia

Its hard to stop the mafia, especially when they are on the internet. Russian Business Network, an internet domain name company loosely headquartered in St. Petersburg, Russia, has become a hub for everything illegal on the web according to the article “Shadowy Russian Firm Seen as Conduit for Cybercrime” by Brian Krebs.

They allow clients to run child pornography sites, “phish” for passwords, and overall piracy. It has been extremely hard to shut this business down. They have no real legal identity which makes them hard to sue or prosecute. Likewise, they have ties with organized crime, and are believed to be bribing public officials. Also, according to experts Russian’s internet crime fighting is relatively weak which adds to the challenge of stopping the illegal activities. Furthermore, the company itself doesn’t break the laws; they just allow others to break the laws. All of these are challenging obstacles in stopping the company.

So what are people to do? Many internet service providers are simply blocking the websites for their customers. One security administrator said after they blocked the sites "Our instances of spam and infected machines dropped exponentially." So blocking the whole network seems like it’s a really good, and easy thing-but its not.

When an entire network is blocked, consumer groups start complaining according to Danny McPherson, the chief research officer at Arbor Networks. Should consumers be allowed to go to any website they want, even if that website potentially is trying to hurt them? There is no easy answer to that question.

Another potential problem is the company can just shut down, and reset up under a different guise. Therefore, endless blocking could occur and the problem never really be solved.

This is an extremely important topic for several reasons. First, in order for the internet to grow and develop, there must be laws that protect consumers rights. If a brick and mortar store is robbed, they can call the police who will investigate and act. Yet, imagine the same kind of store but only on the internet. If they are robbed by hackers, its harder for them to go after the criminals. If the problem becomes too rampant, then many will shy away from going into business on the internet. Likewise, innocent children are being exploited and used cruelly for profit and malice. A government has the duty to protect its youth. Lastly, others will look to this Russian company as an example, and go into illegal business themselves. Therefore, its important for governments and regulatory bodies to go after the perpetrators.