I think to be able to answer that question thoroughly you need to know the crime that is at the heart of the discussion. It’s my belief that in most scenarios it can be both positive and negative, then again at either extreme you have instances where it is more positive then negative and then on the other extreme you have circumstances where it is far more negative then positive. Let’s look at a few examples. In the case of the jaded ex who wishes that the relationship didn’t end and who’s crime is to harass the person that scorned them and not become anything more than that, meaning no physical harm is ever considered, planned or committed. Then that’s an example where the impact can be more positive then negative. Sure the technology is going to be used to find maybe their social media account, their phone number, email address, and even home address. Then with that information there will be the initial barrage of attempts to communicate with that person in an effort to get them to take them back. This is case where it would take the offender far more time and effort to identify and harass the victim, then it would take for the victim to simply block their phone number, block their messages on social media, and return to sender any correspondence sent to their house. Assuming that the crime being committed here is as benign as just that. On the other extreme of that same situation you have a case where that same person means to do the victim grave harm, the victim isn’t able to protect themselves using cyber technology as easily and in most cases until something horrific is done the victim wouldn’t have any recourse through law enforcement. That is a case where the impact would be a net negative for the victim. Then there are financial crimes. Cyber technology when it comes to offenders and victims when it comes to financial crimes I believe is different where the impact is a net negative to the victim and net positive for the offender. I say that because we do all the due diligence and due care that we are capable of but in 99% of the cases we are still beholden to someone else to protect our financial information and assets. No matter how strong your password is, no matter how man factors of authentication you use, you’re still at the mercy of the company and their internal processes, policies, procedures, and staff with regards to how safe your finances are and once compromised, the victims again have very little recourse.