The Complexities of Prosecuting Cyber Crime Essay

According to the Department of Justice, Microsoft used its resources and technology to drive other companies out of business, thereby eliminating the competition and creating a monopoly. Without competition, Microsoft was able to set prices and consumer conditions in a way that exceedingly benefited the company while ensuring a decreased amount of new competition because of the proprietary software installed in most PCs. (Competitive Processes, Anticompetitive Practices and Consumer Harm in the Software

The Justice Department maintains that the most critical concern involved Microsoft’s agreement to license a code to other companies, which allows rival products to communicate with Windows software. As of January 17, 2004, only eleven companies have chosen to license this code, most of which are not much competition for Microsoft. In addition, many companies are accusing Microsoft of demanding unreasonable fees and tedious restrictions for the code license (Krim, 2004).

Over the past few years the economy in the United States has taken a downturn. It has been so bad, that some businesses were not able to survive. However, Microsoft Corporation (Microsoft) was not one of those companies. The fiscal strength of Microsoft played a large part in providing the company with the ability and resources to survive the difficult financial markets (Microsoft Corporation, 2009). As a

The government has been looking into Microsoft since 1990, when the Federal Trade Commission first started examining charges of monopolistic behavior. In 1995, Microsoft and the U.S. Justice Department reached a settlement that required the company to change a variety of business practices, including key aspects of its licensing agreements with personal computer makers (2).

companies in the business and ordered that Microsoft be split into two companies. One that

found that Microsoft would have to split up itself. They would have to be broken into different

Commencing in 1990, Microsoft was investigated and then charged with violation of the Sherman Antitrust Act which governs United States businesses. The company was determined to be a monopoly, and one which used anti-competitive practices to keep its leading edge on the market. As would most any organization on the receiving end of the allegations, Microsoft did not agree with the charges and sought to defend its business

This situation may seem totally unrelated but in a great way affects the case at hand. The decisions made by CyberTech will in a way not be genuine due to the influence of the presence of the suspects in another case with them. Let’s take an example that the OPM breach suspects were found guilty in the case which subsequently led to termination of their job and charging by the court. This would lead them not being able to facilitate the other case they have with CyberTech. As a result, it would suppress them financially or even if arrested they would not be able to represent themselves in order to proceed with the other mentioned case. This is a conflict of interest which comes with lame outcomes of a bad image to the organization. As well known, a bad image for an organization greatly affects how it operates and hence how it relates to its customers. The basic factor that prospective clients look upon before proposing to work with a certain organization is the image of the organization (Thompson,

Another question posed by the case was whether or not Microsoft’s conduct benefitted consumers. The senior group vice president of Microsoft, Paul Maritz believes Microsoft operations did benefit consumers, stating that Window’s popularity was due to Microsoft’s “efforts to innovate, evangelize and license the software cheaply” (Baron, p. 317). Microsoft’s alleged monopoly did benefit consumers when price and compatibility are considered, as the operating software was cheap and accessible by most consumers, especially given the fact so many applications were written specifically to interact with

caught and not receive the punishment they deserve. Microsoft got a slap on the wrist for their

The case against Microsoft was brought buy the U.S. Department of Justice, as well as several state Attorneys General. Microsoft is accused of using and maintaining monopoly power to gain an unfair advantage in the market. The case has been under observation for a long time, but the Justice department is having trouble coming up with substantial evidence against Microsoft. Specifically, the Department must prove:That Microsoft has monopoly power and is using it to gain unfair leverage in the market.And that Microsoft has maintained this monopoly power through "exclusionary" or "predatory" acts(Rule).Some say that Microsoft is only taking advantage of its position in the market and using innovative marketing strategies

The patterns I see with Microsoft’s reactions to competition is that they rely heavily on the fact that they are leaders in the field of operating systems and they use this monopoly as leverage on what they give out to their consumers with their “bundling capabilities” (Rivkin 4). In the past I believe they have been successful against competitors even though they have gotten into legal trouble while doing it. This is because even after the law suits they still remained ahead of the pack in market shares.

They have expand their business from only on computer software and hardware to online search engine, home gaming devices and smartphone, those business are the popular business in the world, Microsoft is trying to adapt the new market.

Cyber Crime is described as criminal activity committed via use of electronic communications with respect to cyber fraud or identity theft through phishing and spoofing. There are many other forms of cyber-crime also such as harassment, pornography etc. via use of information technology.

In accordance with many decades of cyber evolution, a cybercrime is shown in different ranges of crimes, which depend on the spread of technology and law. From the introduction of computer in the 1960s to the rise of personal computer in 1980s, cybercrime began to appear. The crimes can vary from piracy of software to patent-related crimes. This caused a surge in the introduction of relevant legislation in many countries and international organizations involved. In late 1990s, when Internet and transnational crimes were born, the international community cooperated in many instances such as the passing of the UN General Assembly Resolution 45/121 in 1990 and the manual for the prevention and control of computer-related crimes issued in 1994. Despite all the