Police battle criminals on high tech front

Editor's Note: This is the second in a two-part series exploring high-technology crimes. This story addresses software piracy and cellular phone fraud.

By JAMES KWASNIK
Collegian Staff Writer

Authorities are attempting to stop technology pirates pillaging the electronic seas of computer software and cellular phones.

"Computers are a commodity now. In addition to furthering traditional crimes, they advance new ones," said Mark Stringer, University Police Services officer.

One high-technology crime, Stringer said, is pirating software. About four or five cases have been reported within the past year, he said.

He added the pirated software usually comes from a computer bulletin board, but people can steal it from various places. People can even acquire pirated software from the Internet, Stringer said.

Efrain Ortiz (junior-economics) said the easiest way to get pirated software is from friends.

Ortiz, a former employee of the Computer and Information System at the Ogontz Campus, said another way people have pirated software is by purchasing software, copying it and shrink-wrapping it for resale.

But such pirated software can be detected in two ways.

Some of the pirated computer programs are detected by the Center for Academic Computing (CAC) or are sometimes found by police while they are investigating another computer-related crime, Stringer said.

He added that police can prosecute a person under federal statute for theft and they can receive anything from a simple misdemeanor charge to a felony if caught.

But Stringer said he doesn't think police learn about all incidents of software piracy because of the difficulty in detecting the crime.

"All you can do is make sure people know the penalties and sanctions," Stringer said. "There's not a whole lot you can do."

Jim Kerlin, deputy director for the CAC, said one way to attempt prevention is to inform students about piracy by giving out brochures and delivering speeches to incoming freshmen every semester.

"We try to create awareness for people," Kerlin said.

Another current wave in the technological sea that people need to be aware of involves cellular phone fraud, which can be committed in two ways, Stringer said.

Each cellular phone has a computer chip that provides an identification code for that specific telephone. The chip allows telephone companies to track calls, Stringer said. People can clone the chips, Stringer said, and masquerade as the owner of that particular cellular phone.

A second way to commit cellular phone fraud is to create a chip that emits random identification codes. Random identification codes could be any phone customer's or a number of a phone not in service yet, Stringer said.

But, there is no way to trace a person making the calls, Stringer said, and the person whose code has been cloned must pay the charges on the phone bill.

Cellular phone owners may be relieved to know that some cellular phone companies will help out.

A customer who travels to a big city may find an exorbitant phone bill upon returning home. In that case, the customer's phone number will be changed and Wireless One Network will pay for it, said Wally Anderson, manager of Wireless One Network, 2330 Commercial Blvd.

Stringer added that local cellular phone owners do not need to worry.

"To my knowledge there have been no cases of cellular phone fraud (at the University)," Stringer said.

And Benson Lichtig, owner of The Communication Station, 1341 S. Atherton St., said he is not aware of any fraud in Centre County, and that the majority of fraud occurs in major city areas.

But Anderson said one case of fraud was discovered in the area within the past five or six months.