Bijoy Saima
The Internet represents both risks and opportunities for young people. The Internet has become all pervasive in
the lives of young people and this paper will review studies that examine the extent of awareness that exists
amongst students of Government Law College. The reason of the sample audience is to test the hypothesis
whether law students would display a higher degree of cyber crime awareness.
Cyber Crime Awareness amongst
students of Government Law College,
Trivandrum – A Legal Survey
Submitted by
By
Bijoy Saima
Legum Baccalaureus
at the
Introduction ................................................................................................................................ 2
Methodology .............................................................................................................................. 6
Participants ............................................................................................................................. 6
Age ..................................................................................................................................... 8
Typical Activity................................................................................................................ 10
Pornography ..................................................................................................................... 10
Hacking ............................................................................................................................ 11
Defamation ....................................................................................................................... 12
Conclusion ................................................................................................................................ 14
1
Introduction
There are estimated 600 million mobile users and 130 million internet users in India along
1
with 20 million broadband users. Facebook reported that as of December, 2012, it has 71
million users in India and most of them are accessing Internet through mobile phones. 2 These
reports would tell how much the Indian youth has made internet communication mediums
such as Google and Facebook part and parcel of their every day affairs. But at the same time,
it also needs to be understood that millions of internet users in India are unaware of cyber
safety and security essentials,3 netiquettes and proper forums for reporting crimes4. Internet
and digital communication technology (DCT) has created an enormous opportunity for people
of all ages including student community to contribute and accumulate information. People are
getting connected to each other through emails, chatrooms, social media platforms like
Facebook, Twitter etc, blogs etc. Internet and DCT also make it possible for users to avail
online banking, shopping as well as e-library facilities. Parihar had shown the positive usage
of the social media by the students as well as the higher educational institutions. The study
had taken up the usage of popular social media like Facebook, Twitter, YouTube and Indian
websites and shown that while students mostly use the platforms for connecting with seniors,
classmates, faculty members and get information for opportunities abroad, many higher
educational institutes apply social media marketing method to market themselves for
prospective students. The study also highlighted that even though various types of cyber
crimes are inevitable when using social media, growing number of Indian students are
positively using the social media.5 The news consumption and dissemination by the students
in the cyber space by using “uses and gratification theory” was mainly used to find out the
motives behind consumption and dissemination of the news in the cyber space. Even though
online consumption of news is lesser than offline consumption of the news, students use
dissemination for relaxation and maintaining personal relationships. It is interesting to note
that this study also found out that news dissemination is considered as a way for “showing
off” one’s knowledge, expertise, smartness etc and it is considered as one way of expressing
1
Math favors Indians and I am a mathematician: Google chief. NDTV. Retrieved on 20th February 2014 from
http://www.ndtv.com/article/india/mathfavours-india-and-i-m-a-mathematician-google-chief-345403.
2
NDTV (February 8, 2013b). Facebook has 71 million active users in India. NDTV. Retrieved on 25th May
2013 from http://gadgets.ndtv.com/social-networking/news/facebook-has-71-million-activeusers-in-india-50-
million-duplicate-accounts-worldwide-328213.
3
Umarhathab, S., Rao, G. D. R., & Jaishankar, K. (2009). Cyber Crimes in India: A Study of Emerging Patterns
of Perpetration and Victimization in Chennai City. Pakistan Journal of Criminology, 1(1), 51-66, April 2009.
4
Halder, D., & Jaishankar, K. (2010). Cyber Victimization in India: A Baseline Survey Report. Tirunelveli,
India: Centre for Cyber Victim Counselling.
5
Parihar, M. (2011). Use of Social Media as a Tool for Higher Learning. Retrieved on 20th February 2014 from
http://ssrn.com/abstract=1983182
2
personal opinion about day to day affairs. Popular Social Networking Sites like Orkut etc are
used mainly for messaging and chatting. However, this study did not include rural population
and does not give any demographic division of the population.6
While in the US and Europe, college students avail the internet and DCT to the maximum to
acquire and share information7, in India, the popularity of this medium among the college
students has somewhat been restricted to connecting with friends, relatives and searching for
higher education institutions. Similar to the urban population, the rural population are now
getting connected to DCT network and they are being encouraged to participate in e-
governance through various schemes. Schools, colleges and universities situated in the semi
rural, rural or interior parts are encouraging the use of IT and DCT to their students. Notably,
the student population in such schools, colleges and universities may not come from
economic and social backgrounds which can afford to have a home computer and an
uninterrupted internet connection. The findings of TCS GenY survey 2012-13 of nearly
17,500 high school students (metros and Tier II Towns) across 14 Indian cities reveals that
smart devices and unprecedented levels of online access are making this generation the most
connected one and this is changing the way they communicate with each other and
transforming both their academic and social lives.8 Even though some researchers have taken
up to review the cyber safety awareness, cyber crime awareness etc in India, most of these
researches have targeted urban population who are economically well placed than their semi-
urban and rural counterparts, who are better educated and tech-savvy. A majority of the
respondents use internet for emails (including sending and receiving mails), chatting, seeing
online entertainments etc. The study pointed out that many respondents did not recognise the
potential of internet as a portal for online learning, e-journals, e-library etc. The study is
important mainly because it showed the usage patterns of college students in 2003 when
social networking sites were not as popular as now and one of the major ways of getting
connected was limited to chat rooms such as yahoo messenger, hotmail etc.9 Rotszein10
6
Manjunatha, S. (2013). The Usage of Social Networking sites Among the College Students in India.
International Research Journal of Social Sciences, 2(5), 15-21, (May,
2013 ). Retrieved on 20th February 2014 from http://www.isca.in/IJSS/Archive/v2/i5/3.ISCA-IRJSS-2013-
065.pdf.
7
Rotszein, B. (2003). Problem Internet use and locus of control among college students: Preliminary findings.
Poster presentation at The 35th Annual Conference of the New England Educational Research Organization,
Portsmouth, New Hampshire, April 10, 2003.
Retrieved on 20th February 2014 from http://www.brianrotsztein.com/downloads/internetresearch.pdf
8
Tata Consultancy Services. (2013). TCS GenY Survey 2012-13. Retrieved on 2th February 2014 from
http://sites.tcs.com/genysurvey/
9
Tadasad, P. G., Maheshwarappa, B. S., & Alur, S. (2003). Use of Internet Undergraduate Students of PDA
College of Engineering, Gulbarga. Annals of Library and Information Studies, 50(1), 31-42.
3
pointed out thatthe college students are more privileged than the school students when it
comes to internet usage as the higher educational institutes may offer emails for the students.
The students may also posses advanced knowledge about the usage of the computer and
internet. But this may have positive as well as negative effects as college students may face
problem internet use, including internet addiction, serious health related problems due to this
etc. While on the positive effect, the students may use these services for disseminating
knowledge as well as gaining information. The study concentrated on excessive internet use
by the college students, related behavioural disorder and the role of locus of control in the
issue. This study showed that men stayed online more than women and resultantly they felt
more satisfied, missed classes, arrived late in the destination places, and lied about their
internet use. The study also showed that men preferred to stay online and avoid family
gatherings and parties. The study further showed that women recognised behavioural
problems and attempted to stop internet usage than men.
There is a need to analyse the present status of use and misuse of Internet by youth in India,
especially, the Semi-urban and rural youth, when many girls become victims of cyber social
networking sites and boys become victims of abuse of Internet.11 Online risks facing young
people include exposure to sexually explicit material as well as online victimization on the
Internet. Exposure to sexually explicit Internet material is an important concern as there is
evidence that such exposure is related to greater sexual uncertainty and more positive attitudes
towards uncommitted sexual exploration among youth. Online harassment is defined as
‘threats or other offensive behaviour (not sexual solicitation) sent online to the youth or
posted online about the youth for others to see. Sexual solicitation is defined as ‘requests to
engage in sexual activities or sexual talk or to give personal sexual information that were
unwanted or, whether wanted or not, made by an adult (18 years old or older).12 One of the
more common forms of harassment among youth is that of cyber bullying, which is defined as
‘willful and repeated harm inflicted through the medium of electronic text’.13 It is often
perceived as the online version of offline bullying, or ‘traditional bullying’, which is
characterized as the ‘aggressive intentional act or behavior that is carried out by a group or an
individual repeatedly and over time against a victim who cannot easily defend him or
10
Supra Note 6
11
Supra Note 4
12
Wolak J, Mitchell KJ, Finkelhor D. Online victimization of youth: 5 years later. Alexandria, VA: National
Center for Missing & Exploited Children; 2006.
13
Patchin JW, Hinduja S. Bullies move beyond the schoolyard: a preliminary look at cyberbullying. Youth
Violence Juvenile Justice 2006; 4:148–169.
4
herself’.14
Although Dehue et al. found that name-calling and gossiping were the most frequently
reported cyber-bullying behaviors, other bullying behaviors include spreading rumors, making
threats, or otherwise sending malicious messages.15
Despite the risks, the Internet can also be a positive tool for student learning as well as youth
empowerment and well being. There is evidence that computer and Internet use improves test
scores16,17, history chronology learning, and motivation to learn18. Although promising, the
benefits are not without limits. Older students seem to benefit more from online aids than
younger students, and the very youngest of students actually do worse in technological
formats compared with traditional paper and pencil formats.19 There is also evidence that the
Internet may help to empower youth, particularly those in disadvantaged circumstances.
Barak and Sadovsky20 found that hearing-impaired youth took advantage of the heavily visual
medium of the Internet to communicate. Doing so also had a positive effect on their well
being. A recent review concluded that adolescents are primarily using the Internet to reinforce
offline relationships, adolescents also seem to use online forums such as home- pages and
blogs to gain positive feelings of mastery and competence.21
14
Smith PK, Mahdavi J, Carvalho M, et al. Cyber bullying: its nature and impact in secondary school pupils. J
Child Psychol Psychiatry 2008; 49:376–385.
A comparison of traditional bullying and cyber bullying which found that cyber bullying had a similar impact
factor as traditional bullying.
15
Dehue F, Bolman C, Vo¨ llink T. Cyberbullying: youngsters’ experiences and parental perception.
CyberPsychol Behav 2008; 11:217–223.
This study found that parents were not generally aware of their children’s cyber bullying experiences, either as
cyber bullies or as cyber bullying victims.
16
Wainer J, Dwyer T, Dutra RS, et al. Too much computer and Internet use is bad for your grades, especially if
you are young and poor: results from the 2001 Brazilian SAEB. Comput Educ 2008; 51:1417–1429.
17
Biesinger K, Crippen K. The impact of an online remediation site on performance related to high school
mathematics proficiency. J Comput Math Sci Teach 2008; 27:5–17.
18
Rau P-LP, Gao Q, Wu L-M. Using mobile communication technology in high school education: Motivation,
pressure, and learning performance. Comput Educ 2008; 50:1–22.
19
Foreman N, Boyd-Davis S, Moar M, et al. Can virtual environments enhance the learning of historical
chronology? Instr Sci 2008; 36:155–173.
20
Barak A, Sadovsky Y. Internet use and personal empowerment of hearingimpaired adolescents. Comput Hum
Behav 2008; 24:1802–1815.
A study that found that hearing-impaired youth used the Internet more intensely and for longer periods of time
than hearing youth. Deaf youth who used it for longer periods felt less lonely and had higher self-esteem than
deaf youth who had lower Internet use.
21
Schmitt KL, Dayanim S, Matthias S. Personal homepage construction as an expression of social development.
Dev Psychol 2008; 44:496–506.
5
Objectives of the study
The Internet represents both risks and opportunities for young people. The Internet has
become all pervasive in the lives of young people and this paper will review studies that
examine the extent of awareness that exists amongst students of Government Law College.
The reason of the sample audience is to test the hypothesis whether law students would
display a higher degree of cyber crime awareness. The findings of this study could be useful
for the college management to understand the mentality of the students while setting up
policies and regulations to effectively reduce the instances cyber crime in the student
community.
Methodology
Participants
The 2014 Cyber Crime Awareness Survey was completed by 89 respondents from 10 classes.
The sample was obtained by random selection. Incentives were not offered to the respondents
and immense difficulties were encountered in trying to convince potential respondents to take
the survey and the topic appeared to lend cold feet to the respondents. Approximately 115
questionnaires were handed out, of which 89 were usable in full, yielding a 77% response
rate.
6
Data Analysis
The questionnaires that were returned by the respondents were screened for discrepancies and
the data from complete questionnaires was entered into a database. Utmost care was taken to
avoid data entry errors.
Data extracted from the survey responses was entered into SPSS 17.0 software for statistical
analysis. This also included clustering data into relevant groupings, identifying relations
between variables, noting patterns and significance at which they occur.
7
Findings And Analyses
Age
The age of the respondents were primarily
between 18 and 23 which accounted for
74% of the sample.
Family Income
Frequency of Access
Around 53 percent of the sample accessed
the internet at least once a day highlighting
the affinity of the sample towards the
8
internet.
Examining a stack area graph shows that Presence in Social Networking Sites
this distribution was true by age as well. Around 11 percent of the sample was not
active on the most notorious sites such as
Facebook, Orkut, Google plus and
LinkedIn. Facebook and Google plus was
the most used sites at 40% and 32%
respectively.
Mode of Access
The mode of access is predominantly
mobile and by other means which account
for 77 percentage of the sample. Access in
college is the lowest with 5 percent and
access at commercial internet centre is
seen to be higher at 7 percent.
9
Typical Activity When comparing this feature with the age
The most common activity pursued online of the respondents it shows that the
according to this survey is for Academic incidence of watching porn increases with
purposes which has been given by 33% of respondents above 23 years of age having
the sample. The other common activities the highest percentile of the respective
are reading news and other information groups
and chatting.
Illegality of Pornography
In response to the question whether the that pornography was illegal in India. 28%
respondents watched pornography on the of the respondents were unsure while 26%
internet, 20% of the sample admitted to of the respondents felt that pornography
10
Another Interesting observation was that Similarly, While around 38% of the
10% of the respondents watched respondents do not download videos, 38%
pornography although they thought it was of the respondents were most likely to be
illegal, while around 6% of the respondents flouting the norms of copyright protection.
watched pornography although they were Around 11% of the respondents admit to
unsure if it were legal. downloading videos of other people’s
11
Defamation Theoretical Awareness of Common
In response to the question if the Cyber Crimes
respondent had ever published any The respondents were presented with a
defamatory message online, 10% replied in match the following question wherein they
the affirmative were requiredto map the given definitions
of Identity Theft, Malware, Cyber
Stalking, Spam and Password Sniffing
with the defining word. 45% of the
respondents got all the answers correct
while 20% of the petitioners got all the
answers wrong.
Cyber bullying
In response to the question if the
respondent had ever bullied another person
online, 12% replied in the affirmative
12
Around 61% of the respondents could Around 64% of the respondents could
identify the meaning of malware correctly.
identify the meaning of password sniffing
correctly.
13
Conclusion
The overall findings indicates satisfactory awareness among all the students. Results revealed
the importance of awareness as a tool to decrease/ prevent cyber crime. Therefore it is
concluded that the hypothesis has not been proved to be coherent, i.e., law students are not
exceedingly aware of cyber crimes than students of other faculties. It also shows that there is a
trend of students who watch pornography despite being aware that it is illegal. Better
awareness of consequences will help these students become better netizens.
14
Frequency
Tables
15
Age
Cumulative
Frequency Percent Valid Percent Percent
Year
Cumulative
Frequency Percent Valid Percent Percent
16
Income
Cumulative
Frequency Percent Valid Percent Percent
Frequency
Cumulative
Frequency Percent Valid Percent Percent
AccessCollege
Cumulative
Frequency Percent Valid Percent Percent
17
AccessInternetCentre
Cumulative
Frequency Percent Valid Percent Percent
AccessMobile
Cumulative
Frequency Percent Valid Percent Percent
AccessFriendsHouse
Cumulative
Frequency Percent Valid Percent Percent
18
AccessOther
Cumulative
Frequency Percent Valid Percent Percent
Cumulative
Frequency Percent Valid Percent Percent
Valid
Facebook 75 84.3 84.3 100.0
GooglePlus
Cumulative
Frequency Percent Valid Percent Percent
19
Orkut
Cumulative
Frequency Percent Valid Percent Percent
Cumulative
Frequency Percent Valid Percent Percent
SocialNone
Cumulative
Frequency Percent Valid Percent Percent
20
Mails
Cumulative
Frequency Percent Valid Percent Percent
Banking
Cumulative
Frequency Percent Valid Percent Percent
Chatting
Cumulative
Frequency Percent Valid Percent Percent
21
Academic
Cumulative
Frequency Percent Valid Percent Percent
NewsUpdates
Cumulative
Frequency Percent Valid Percent Percent
ActivityShopping
Cumulative
Frequency Percent Valid Percent Percent
22
Pornography
Cumulative
Frequency Percent Valid Percent Percent
PornographyLegalorNot
Cumulative
Frequency Percent Valid Percent Percent
DoNotUploadVideos
Cumulative
Frequency Percent Valid Percent Percent
23
UploadAllvideos
Cumulative
Frequency Percent Valid Percent Percent
UploadPersonalVideos
Cumulative
Frequency Percent Valid Percent Percent
OtherPeoplesActivities
Cumulative
Frequency Percent Valid Percent Percent
24
UploadDoNotWantToTell
Cumulative
Frequency Percent Valid Percent Percent
DoNotDownLoadVideos
Cumulative
Frequency Percent Valid Percent Percent
DownloadAllVideos
Cumulative
Frequency Percent Valid Percent Percent
25
DownloadOtherpeoplesActivities
Cumulative
Frequency Percent Valid Percent Percent
DownloadDoNotWantToTell
Cumulative
Frequency Percent Valid Percent Percent
Hacking
Cumulative
Frequency Percent Valid Percent Percent
26
Defamation
Cumulative
Frequency Percent Valid Percent Percent
CyberBullying
Cumulative
Frequency Percent Valid Percent Percent
CyberStalking
Cumulative
Frequency Percent Valid Percent Percent
27
PasswordSniffing
Cumulative
Frequency Percent Valid Percent Percent
IDTheft
Cumulative
Frequency Percent Valid Percent Percent
Malware
Cumulative
Frequency Percent Valid Percent Percent
28
Spam
Cumulative
Frequency Percent Valid Percent Percent
29