The effect crime has on victims has changed exponentially as technology has improved. Cell phones are practically everywhere. Everyone from your grandparents to children has one, thereby introducing the full power of the internet to the fingertips of the young and old. While this is an incredible feat, the power cybercriminals have now is immeasurable to the level of crime committed before even just this one type of technology. The crimes themselves may not have changed that much, however. Fraud, theft, and intimidation were happening well before the World Wide Web and its’ peripherals were introduced. Now, though, these crimes are not confined geographically to the criminal. Instead, offenders have a global reach, with the ability to cyberstalk someone in Japan from the state of Florida. As Artificial Intelligence reaches new levels of realism, the effect of fraud can be increasingly impactful for the victim.

The development of policy surrounding the handling of cybercrime may not be keeping pace with the advent and advancement of new technology. Governance is inherently not predictive and less is known in the government about new and emerging technologies than within the private sector. It is a battle between capitalist entrepreneurship and public safety. There have been attempts recently made by the government to communicate with AI companies seeking a way to protect consumers. OpenAI’s CEO Sam Altman sat with the Senate Judiciary Privacy, Technology, and the Law Subcommittee hearing on Capitol Hill being the latest example. It is my opinion that this may be an example of more government intervention being a positive attribute for consumer safety. We have seen consumers hurt by company policy, through weak protection of data or outright selling customer information for ad revenue. Tightening the belt on these lax policies and poor practices may be best undertaken by an outside entity than the resource providers themselves.