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Freedom of speech. Allowing individuals to express themselves about every possible subject without governmental interference. It is something very normal in most countries across the globe. However, in countries like North Korea and Russia, it is not so obvious. This has not only been a problem during the reign of Vladimir Putin, but also during the reigns of his several precessors like Stalin, Yeltsin and Lenin. Since the invasion of Ukraine, more and more news sites and social media get blocked by the Kremlin and could even lead to an imprisonment of up to 15 years (Troianovski & Safronova, 2022).

During the past decades, Web 1.0 and Web 2.0 were introduced to let individuals read and write content on the internet. With the introduction of Web 3.0, companies are also trying to give back the ownership of the posted content. At least in Western countries. This development won’t be visible in Russia very soon. With the increased chance of an economic crisis in Russia due to economic sanctions of Western countries, and the Ukrainian army winning back their cities, the Kremlin won’t allow freedom of speech anytime soon. This legislation should in the end prevent the Russian inhabitants revolting against their leader (Troianovski & Safronova, 2022).

To gain access to banned information platforms, Russians are using increasingly more VPN networks. Companies like Surfshark and ExpressVPN have noticed significant increases in VPN usage in particular in Sri Lanka, but also in Russia. Also in conquered parts of the Ukraine, internet traffic is getting diverted via Russia, after which an increase of 3.500% in VPN subscriptions was noticed since February 24th (CNBCTV18, 2022).

A possible solution next to the VPN subscriptions, might be internet satellites like those from Starlink. SpaceX, a company of Elon Musk has recently invested 80 million dollars into satellite receivers in the Ukraine (RTL, 2022). Hopefully sometime in the near future, freedom of speech, both online and offline, will be possible for all people around the world. However, this will be very difficult to achieve with leaders like Putin.

References

CNBCTV18. (2022, October 7). VPN demand surges across the world finds report. Retrieved 9 October 2022, from https://www.cnbctv18.com/technology/vpn-demand-surges-across-the-world-finds-report-14890111.htm

RTL Nieuws. (2022, October 4). Musk: Oekraïne kreeg voor 80 miljoen aan Starlink-schotels. Retrieved 9 October 2022, from https://www.rtlnieuws.nl/tech/artikel/5337356/elon-musk-oekraine-ukraine-starlink-spacex

Troianovski, A. & Safronova, V. (2022, March 3). Russia takes censorship to new extremes, stifling war coverage. Retrieved 6 October 2022, from https://www.nytimes.com/2022/03/04/world/europe/russia-censorship-media-crackdown.html

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The development of the Internet of Things has made life much easier in the past decades. At the same time, human beings are also becoming much more dependent on their electronic devices. With for example mobile phones, we stay in contact with each other followed by the almost extinction of the regular post card. These developments have also resulted in negative externalities during the past couple of years, whereas new types of criminality have emerged. In this blog, the danger of Spoofing will be explained together with its effect on the Netherlands, ending with helpful recommendations.

Spoofing means that a criminal is taking on a different, trusted identity to mislead another person into sharing personal data. There are different types of Spoofing. For example, through emails, websites or calls (KPN, 2021). Spoofing is also becoming more common on WhatsApp. Criminals use the friend-in-need tactic in which they say that they are a family member who’s phone has been stolen. This type of scam is dangerous because it preys the kindness of people. Therefore, people should always have a second thought when answering a text of an unknown phone number. Especially when it starts with “Hello mum/dad” or “Hello brother/sister” (Triodos Bank, 2022).

Over the whole year of 2021 in the Netherlands, the damage of this type of criminality was 11% of the total amount of financial criminal damage. In monetary numbers, this comes down to €261 million. As warned above, the most dangerous type of Spoofing turned out to be the friend-in-need tactic. Over 26.000 people became a victim of this type of crime. Until today, 121 million has been paid back to the victims (CBS, 2022).

Tackling the Spoofing problem is difficult. However, there are some things you could do to decrease the chance that you will become a victim. First of all, never click a link in an email without checking the link underneath. This can be done by holding your mouse above the link. Furthermore, check for grammar mistakes in the message which could have been the result of international criminals using Google Translate. Lastly, if you get a call from an unknown number who says that he works for the bank, always verify the identity beforehand. For example, tell the other person that you will be calling back later (KPN, 2021). In the meantime you can check the phone number and name. In addition to that, there are a lot of other recommendations to prevent becoming a victim of Spoofing which can be read on the internet.

To conclude, criminals will always seek to find new opportunities to earn money at the expense of innocent people. Spoofing is a type of criminality that should definitely not be underestimated in a world in which we are dependent on the internet. Therefore, people should be alert at all times to prevent being scammed.

References

Beleef KPN. (2021, August 31). Spoofing: de betekenis, hoe werkt het en hoe kun je het voorkomen. Retrieved 26 September 2022, from https://www.kpn.com/beleef/blog/spoofing.htm

CBS. (2022, September 22). 2,5 miljard euro schade door criminaliteit tegen burgers. Retrieved 26 September, from https://www.cbs.nl/nl-nl/nieuws/2022/38/2-5-miljard-euro-schade-door-criminaliteit-tegen-burgers

Triodos Bank. (2022, September 20). ‘Friend in need’ scam – what to watch out for and how to be fraud aware. Retrieved 26 September 2022, from https://www.triodos.co.uk/articles/2022/friend-in-need-scam-how-to-be-fraud-aware#:~:text=The%20%27friend%20in%20need%27%20scam%20(also%20known%20as%20%27,help%20their%20friends%20and%20family