Internet Banking

Essay # 111013

Computer and Technology
Criminology

Internet Banking

A brief look at the benefits and dangers of the new cyber economy.

709 words () | 3 sources | MLA | 2006 United States

Paper Summary:

This paper discusses the problems, as well as the advantages, that have arisen as a result of electronic or digital banking and commerce. While noting that digital cash brings certain advantages, e.g., increased efficiency and opening new opportunities for business, the paper also discusses how e-cash presents one of the most challenging issues for law enforcement and businesses. The paper explains that criminals, motivated by profit, money launderers, and terrorist organizations try to exploit legitimate banking services to conceal their proceeds and the true purpose of their financial operations. The paper further explains that this could well encourage the worsening of problems with respect to taxation and money laundering. In turn, these problems may alter foreign exchange rates, disturb money supplies, and move economies closer to a financial crisis.

From the Paper:

"As the digital world continues to expand, and more of our daily tasks become easier to accomplish when they become part of the cyber landscape, police and intelligence agencies are challenged to an even greater degree than were their counterparts some 10 years ago by an environment where money and information can be moved in the blink of an eye. Doubled blind encryption and e-signatures have replaced traditional paper audit trails, creating a cyber jigsaw puzzle which doesn't exist in a material form; leading investigators to virtual locked doors and empty "vaults" with little hope of identifying the individuals behind the activity."

Sample of Sources Used:

Bortner, Mark, Cyberlaundering: Anonymous Digital Cash and Money Laundering, University of Miami School of Law, 1996, pg 4.
Miller, Jim, E-Money mini-FAQ (2.0), 2005
Tanaka, Tatsuo, [The] Possible Economic Consequences of Digital Cash, First Monday, 1996, pg 2.