What is a negative way of using a computer?

Answer 1

Negative ways to use the computer include anything that is illegal, fraudulent, hateful, harasses others, goes out of the way to annoy others, or invades the rights or privacy of others. Here are some of the examples:

Cyberbullying - This involves directing towards any person, any persistent or organized online pattern of harassment, name-calling, threats, admonitions to commit suicide, organizing to physically attack another, organizing to destroy property, defamation (ie., libel and slander), invasion of privacy, and/or hacking. It is still considered cyberbullying if such things are done via a phone rather than a computer. Hacking in the context of cyberbullying would be done to steal photos to be used against the person, snoop through their email or text messages to look for gossip, plant incriminating evidence on someone (such as illegal pornography or terrorist threats), or just to vandalize. Cyberbullies might steal sexting photos or embarrassing photos and distribute them. Or they may steal innocent photos and use Photoshop to turn them into something horrible, then distribute them. Even unlawful surveillance can be considered cyberbullying, such as the college students who filmed a gay student having sex and who drove the student to commit suicide.

Fraud, identity theft and Phishing - Fraud is any activity that involves trying to cheat another person or steal their property or money. For instance, someone sends you an email saying that you won millions of dollars, but that you have to send them money as a claim fee to get it. It should be obvious that if you really won, they can deduct any fees from the winnings. If they really have money to give you, they won't need to ask you for any.

Identity theft is related to fraud in that while they want to steal your identity, the purpose of doing so is to steal money or commit other crimes. For instance, someone may say in an email that they are giving you money. They will say that they lost rich relatives, that you are the only one they can trust, that the government cheated them out of what is theirs but that they have a lawyer who can help them if you also help them, and that they will give you a cut of their lost money when they reclaim it. However, they will request that you give them copies of all of your official documents, usually to steal your identity and run up debts in your name, but this same setup can be used to commit fraud/theft. Instead of asking for your documents, they just want your name, email address, home address, and phone number. In that variation, it is fraud, since they will mail you a bad check to cash and tell you to send most of the money back to them. Since the check is bad, they just tricked you into robbing your own bank. The bank will soon be aware that the money is bad and guess who will have to pay it all back? Not the thieves who were behind it all.

Phishing is related to identity theft and fraud as it is a technique for doing either. What they do is pretend to be someone you likely trust. Some do this to get your passwords. They will pretend to be your bank or an online store (eg., Amazon) or auction house (eg., eBay). If you have an account with them and don't read the email carefully, you may click a link to a fake site that looks like your trusted site, where you give them your login details to the real site. Or they may pretend to be a trusted site, and rather than get your password, they are simply demanding payment. The IRS director once received an email claiming to be from the IRS, saying he owed them several hundred dollars. While he admitted he was impressed by the graphics of the fake site, he said he knew right away that it was fake, since the IRS never does business by email. They do business by mail mainly, though in some cases, you may have to meet with them in person.

General crimes - Criminals may use computers for the purpose of running gangs, selling drugs, selling fake documents, selling weapons, distributing illegal pornography, running scams, illegal gambling, prostitution, committing fraud, threatening others, putting out hit contracts, or trying to locate people they intend to assault or murder. So the internet and phone technology can be used to commit the same types of crimes that are done offline, or to facilitate offline crimes.

Illegal hacking - This is done with the purpose of vandalizing, stealing data or information, snooping, harassing others, spreading malware, interfering with Web traffic, spying on people, or even stealing money. This differs from ethical hacking where companies hire hackers to attack their system so they can find out what needs fixed to prevent that.

Answer 2

One of the most negative uses for a computer is computer hacking. Other negative uses include being dishonest with people you meet, and trying to find a mate when you already have one.