piracy is the illegal use of copyrighted material. Pirates usually target music, movies, or software, although visual designs are also pirated. Making counterfeit products and re-branding or modifying products are also acts of piracy. Another crime is the sale of demo or promotional materials, an example being the DVDs used for Academy Award screenings. Unlike physical theft, most people do not feel guilty about downloading pirated music or movies. Music and film industries believe that 25 billion dollars per year is lost in United States alone by people pirating content.
one more area of electronic crimes is corporate service theft. Unauthorized people will sometimes log into their neighbor's wireless network or share access to cable television. Organized crime syndicates resell stolen cell phone and satellite access. Billions of dollars in service
fees are thus lost through illegal tapping of legitimate customers' services. Wired and wireless network can also be hijacked to send political messages or for criminal activities.
while the number of digital crimes is amazing, it will only expand as computer technologies spread into more devices. Cars are one example of a new device using more computer software these days. Program that control everything from engine performance to the look of the dashboard may be at risk. The future may bring hackers using pirated software to monitor a car's GPS output or even to convert a Chrysler into a Mercedes.