Cyber-Crime In Canada

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In the midst of the post digital era the growing popularity of cyber-crime have posed as a challenge to legislators in Canada as there are very few legal consequences to e-crimes as in the past where they were not actively practised. Cyber-crime has gained massive popularity in the twenty first century due to its perceived rewards outweighing the potential risks, anonymity, ease and thrill. A common theme that most cyber-crimes seem to have is the violation of privacy especially sexually explicit offences. While the term cyber-crime is often associated with fraud, theft, piracy and cyber bullying. a sexually exploiting act known as ‘revenge porn’ has seen a dangerous growth in popularity over the past few years. Revenge porn in a nutshell is …show more content…

Over the last few years’ new bills have been proposed and laws have been put into effect in order to combat acts of revenge porn such as the intimate image protection act in Manitoba which allows victims to sue for financial compensation (News 2016) and also Bill C-13, a new cyber-bullying law that defines the sharing of intimate media without consent as illegal but is only active in Manitoba as of now. A fairly recent high profile revenge porn case that has made its way into the public eye again took place in Toronto during the fall of 2011 (Ontario Superior Court of Justice 2016) where a former high school couple went separate ways after the plaintiff, only known as Jane Doe, then eighteen years old moved away for post-secondary education and broke up with her then boyfriend defendant only known as N.D., when the defendant persuaded Doe to send nude photographs and videos after they had ended their romantic relationship, promising he would be the only one viewing them. Shortly after the defendant shared the explicit material with his friends and proceeded to upload them to an online forum without her consent or …show more content…

Many would argue that justice was served in the case of Jane Doe v. N.D. due to the financial compensation that she was awarded but little to nothing has been done to correct the offence of N.D. . With the combination of gender inequality presented in an overwhelming amount of sexual abuse cases, little to no incentive for the defendant to reoffend and the lasting and devastating mental, emotional and physical effects on Doe, N.D. should receive a prison sentence as well as rehabilitation opportunities to minimize the chance of re-offending. There needs to be laws specific to online sexual exploitation specifically in situations of revenge porn. As the Canadian society becomes more aware and exposed to the implications of sexually exploitive offences, our legislation should reflect the new interests, concern for safety and information Canadians all across Canada have regarding revenge porn with tougher sentences for those who choose to commit them and laws specifically to prevent more cases from happening. Revenge porn needs to be criminalized with the certainty of correctional behaviour by the Ontario Supreme Court and the Canadian government as they have a duty to protect their citizen’s right to privacy and safety and the best interests of young Canadians such as Ms. Doe to provide the opportunity for a safe,

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