Identity Theft Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 2500 words - 1

Identity Theft - Essay Example Criminal identity theft, the most common non-financial type, occurs when someone gives another's personal information to a law enforcement officer when he or she is arrested. In addition to the financial losses resulting from identity theft, the person whose personal information has been used will have an erroneous credit or criminal history that is often expensive and time-consuming to correct. This type of identity fraud involves taking on someone else's identity in order to commit a crime, enter a country, get special permits, hide one's own identity, or commit acts of terrorism. These criminal activities can include Computer and cyber crimes, Organized crime, Drug trafficking, Alien smuggling and money laundering. The incidences of identity theft augmented drastically beginning in the late 1990s due to the computerization of records and the capacity to use someone else’s personal information incognito over the Internet. This scam has amplified in the last few years. According to a September 2003 survey conducted by the Federal Trade Commission, an estimated 10 million people in the United States found out they were victims of identity theft in the previous year, much higher than the 500,000 to 750,000 victims estimated in 2001. Since all victims do not make the reporting of this fraud, these figures do not disclose the real rigorousness of this offense. Identity theft is likely to cause massive harm to people on individual basis as well as the state economy, darkening the consequences of usual crimes. It is very easy for criminals to steal identities. No one is immune from this crime. Los Angeles Police Department sergeant Sunil Dutta says, "Technology has simplified most scams. Anyone with a computer, printer, and scanner can falsify personal checks, credit cards, and various forms of identification. Fake ID templates are available on the Internet. Every day, countless credit card offers are mailed to consumers and credit card purchases are processed. Americans can open accounts, deposit money, and spend funds without speaking to a single person. Data that can be entered into a computer or on a telephone keypad are used to identify most customers."2 (Sunil, 2003) Stealing someone's identity actually requires very little effort. Names and mailing addresses of almost anyone can be found out online by paying a nominal amount. Similarly, for not a very high fee, Social Security numbers and employment information can be purchased on the Internet, all in a matter of a few seconds. The privacy has become endangered primarily due to the prevalence of high-speed computers and decryption software. The first and foremost reason that identity theft has become widespread these days is the ease with which one can find out Social Security numbers. Social Security numbers are used as identification and account numbers by many entities, in fact, some states put Social Security numbers on their drivers' licenses. Insurance companies, universities, utility companies, banks, brokerages, and even department stores often have records of Social Security numbers, resulting in a glut of places where our Social Security numbers are floating around; any thief can fish for them and use them to start new credit card accounts or apply for loans. In worst-case scenarios, someone may commit a crime in someone else's name and have the law enforcement

Modern Tourism Industry and its Impact on the Places Visited Term Paper

Modern Tourism Industry and its Impact on the Places Visited - Term Paper Example However, the benefits to the environment cannot be ignored in the sense that the idea of landscaping beautifies the environment and attracts more tourists’ to the lovely environment created. The issue of draining swamps near touristic developments has proven beneficial to the local inhabitants. Lastly, we consider how tourism affects the culture of an area. Many are the times that tourism development has been shown to lead to the erosion of the cultural identity of an area. However, the main aim of a touristic travel is not to erode the culture of an area but rather many tourist travels to experience the culture of the community that they visit. With these in mind, it is, therefore, right to disagree with the argument that modern tourism is destroying the places visited, and these we shall closely examine and prove in the subsequent paragraphs as we examine the individual aspects that tourism has influenced. Tourism does affect the culture of a society both positively and negatively. Ding and Pigram observed that tourism might encourage the maintenance of culture and tradition (1995: 8). They further state that the maintenance of traditional ways and goods needed to be restored because that is what attracted tourists. The constant visits from tourists helped in boosting and maintenance of the local cultures. Tourism represents an interface of cultural exchange it does allow for the interaction between communities and visitors who travel to experience the local cultures of a given community. Tourism allows these visitors to learn about the different cultures of the world. It also allows the appreciation of the various cultural diversity of the society that they visit. Tourists also learn and appreciate the new perspectives on life and society.

Spanish Slavery Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 1250 words

Spanish Slavery - Essay Example Despite being a slave, he wrote between the lines of domination while being concurrent with the prevailing circumstances. He did this with the objective of creating a 19th century alternative image of Spanish Caribbean societies that needed further critical perspectives and considerations. In this essay, I will compare Manzano with the figure of the Count in The Last Supper, in holding that despite the varying positions the two characters occupied in their respective settings, religion was a dominating factor in crystallizing their respective personalities in the context of what they delivered. The argument will be made very clear by analyzing their respective approaches towards religion and how they used religion in achieving their ends. Main Body The film, The Last Supper, directed by Tomas Gutierrez Alea (1976), depicts that in a rather imprudent attempt to add to the knowledge of his African slaves, the Count, who is pious as well as guilt ridden, asks twelve chosen slaves to hav e dinner with him on a Maundy Thursday during Easter, obviously with the intention of re-enacting the Last Supper with himself performing the role of Christ. As they are involved in eating and drinking, the Count feeds the slaves with a lot of religious oratory and tries to guide them about the tenets of Christianity. He proposes to give them an off the next day, which is Good Friday and pledges that he will free one amongst them. But he does not meet up with his commitment the next day and the slaves stage a revolt. Both, the Last Supper as well as Juan Francis Manzano’s autobiography relate to the lives of slaves in Cuban sugar plantations during the late eighteenth century and are real life stories. The film’s center piece is the bizarre circumstances under which the last supper is supervised by the Count. In keeping with a truly religious fervor, he starts by washing and kissing all the slaves’ feet as each one of them is intensely amused at the mad behavior . However, the film depicts that despite the occasional religious sentiments exhibited by the Count, who is the dominating character, he can be easily seen as an authority figure that is guilt ridden and immensely mysterious. It becomes evident from the film that the truth relative to human behaviors cannot be hidden and eventually surfaces with the actions of individuals. It appears the count is attempting to demonstrate to the slaves, his knowledge and adherence to Christian dogmas and beliefs. In this process, he clearly gives away his lack of clarity about Christianity when he tells the slaves that sorrow is the only thing that humans can happily give to God, adding that anyway, everything belongs to God. The slaves get confused and are absorbed at the thought of what he implies when he speaks about consuming Christ’s body and blood in the forms of bread and wine. Following the rebellion by the slaves, the film ironically depicts that the Count himself gets crucified as a n unlikely son of God for denying justice and property to the slaves. Autobiography of a Slave is a first hand account of Juan Francisco Manzano’s life, times and struggles. Monzano has narrated his story from a first person perception.

Postmodernism Art and Cognitive Mapping Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 1000 words

Postmodernism Art and Cognitive Mapping - Essay Example In its particular form, postmodernism was used in identifying pluralistic style in various arts, such as painting, music, philosophy, literature and even films. It directly contradicts and revolting against the "pretensions of high modernism" art (Honderich 1995). Usually, the form is taken as a basis for critical theory of certain work primarily architectural, then later on in literature and designs. It was historically regarded that this was formed by architectural movement to emphasis their dissatisfaction to modernism form (Britannica 2004). Its flexibility proven as it stretched its horizon and encompasses as well cultural description, constitutional interpretation, business and marketing. They are described as a revival of the traditional elements in designing, and techniques (Merriam-Webster 2004). In its easiest description, postmodern art abandons the political advocacy for particular principle that modern art had been known of. Francis Berry, in his work Art of the Eye and Mind (2007), described this form and its occurrence as "the political ideals that fueled modernism had given way to profound disillusionment with abhorrent wars such as Vietnam, ultra-utilitarian architecture, and academic minimalism". Along with this, Barry explained that postmodernism "undermines the manipulative aspect of ideologies by exposing the artificiality of style" (Barry 2007). However, this study deals on the postmodernism significance to assess certain literary works, as well as its certain role and effectiveness in delivering considerable points of the works. Frederic Jameson's Theory. Although Jean-Francois Lyotard, Jean Baudillard, and Jacques Derrida were the primary thinkers of the Postmodernism, it was Frederic Jameson who came up with lucid principle of the movement. In Jameson's work "Postmodernism, or The Cultural Logic of Late Capitalism", it was then analyzed that his theory is formulated with an integration of Marxist theory, known as the basis of the modernism politics. According to Jonathan Clark, Jameson had "proposed the epoch of post modernity with its own economic, political and cultural ideals, and practices" (2007), thus it made him the "most important cultural critic writing in English today". For further discernment of the subject, it is essential to analyze the understanding in Jameson's theory, of its background and initial drive of his project (Clark 2007). Like many of the prior structured movement, postmodernism is being criticized by its contemporary movements. In Jameson's work, it stated in there that cognitive mapping is the only hope for the postmodern art, as the form now has been debatable of its principles for certain political analysis. Cognitive Mapping. Perhaps Frederic Jameson's remarkable theory regarding postmodernism is the cognitive mapping. Craig Stroupe of University of Minnesota (2008) defined Jameson's cognitive mapping as "a process by which the individual subject situates himself within a vaster, unrepresentable totality, a process that corresponds to the workings of ideology". Stroupe continued his description of cognitive mapping. This time he picked up Jameson's comparative approach of the ideology to the physical geography of a person as the concrete process of cognitive mapping. He stated: "In a classic work, The Image of the City, Kevin Lynch taught us

Organizational Concept Worksheet Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 500 words

Organizational Concept Worksheet - Essay Example So it can be understood that when new operational processes are implemented in an organisation, it constitutes a process of change. Such changes could border on the purchase of new plant and machinery, training of new employees on how to carry out new tasks This confirms findings from previous research (Bolman and Deal,1999) that two thirds of organisational change efforts meet resistance that make them to bypass the intended goals. An even dismal figure is revealed by Carr et al (in Smith, 2003) that only 10 percent of orgainsations actually succeeded in institutionalising a new management style or corporate vision , with 90 percent facing vigorous challenges. Such trend has frequently prompted researchers to investigate the challenges to implementing change in an organisation. Resistance to change usually comes when employees in that organisation take a contrary stance to a new operating system that needs to be implemented. One of the greatest challenges (resistance) to implementing systemic change has been identified to be the difficulty to dismantle an existent corporate culture. This corporate culture, as seen by Mintzberg et al (1998) is a shared commitment to beliefs that encourages consistency in an organisation’s behaviour and way of doing things, thereby discouraging changes in strategy. The above view gives support to the work of Kotter and Heskett (see Smith, 2003) who note organisations that have been successful in the past may persist in their cultural values even though these values inhibit the organisation from adapting to a changing business environment. The persistence in cultural values, according to Lorsch (see Mintzberg, 1998) acts as a prism that blinds managers to opportunities resulting from changing external conditions. Corporate culture therefore implants a system whereby the organisation develops the tendency to adhere to beliefs that have worked in the past, though they may not be working at the time the change is

Banking - the way forward Research Paper Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 5000 words

Banking - the way forward - Research Paper Example There is a paucity of good data as to why newer and more effective computerized banking technologies were not utilized in the first place when these technologies are readily available. It is just a matter of re-programming their IT structures and software to make these anti-money laundering efforts more effective. The present methods allow too many loopholes for bank officers to be complicit. This is a good reason why anti-money laundering should have a minimum of human interventions in place of adopting newer technologies to remove the human elements in the detection and reporting of possible money laundering. The authorities are looking into alternative banking and remittance systems a bit more closely through the Serious Organized Crime Agency (SOCA) as good avenues for money laundering (Burns & Peel, 2006:1). Ironically, Col. Qaddafi and his family have billions stashed away in UK banks. The question is how were they able to move such huge sums without triggering the anti-money l aundering laws of the country? Private banking involves investing for select individuals sizable assets in businesses where large sums of money are normal. Examples are insurance, stock investments and building societies (Bicker, 1996:143). A new troubling area in money laundering in the UK is the use of private trusts (OECD, 2006:30). Private banking plays a big role in the setting up of various trusts (Kalin and Goldsmith, 2007:28) for property ownership and wealth management but pose big risks. The present anti-money laundering technologies produce mostly a bunch of data that relies to a great extent on human interventions. Again, these reports are reliable only to the extent on how reliable are the people who reviewed these reports. In other words, the degree of human intervention in reporting makes these efforts to control dirty money mostly wasted efforts because the humans involved (bank officers) compete in an environment that is not very conducive to compliance with anti-mo ney laundering regulations. When the dirty money amounts to substantial sums, and banks are in need of liquidity, the incentive to comply with the laws and regulations is much lessened. The more crucial priority is the survival of the banking institution itself and so the â€Å"dirty money† continues to flow and bank officers turn a blind eye. There is a need to inject a sense of urgency to anti-money laundering efforts because the survival of society itself is at stake. It has social, political, legal and economic implications which are mostly adverse to the well-being of the people. If these efforts fail, it can mean only that crime really pays. It will also encourage other people to commit the same crimes and get rich themselves. Money laundering threatens and undermines the thread that keeps a society functioning because of its corrosive effects on the moral values of people. Its tentacles are slowing finding its ways into various aspects of daily life. A review of existi ng literature on money laundering will indicate that people are aware of the seriousness, magnitude and urgency of the problem (ADB, 2003:5) but there is a lack of materials on why money laundering continues to proliferate. Most literature materials on this topic have not discussed or investigated why present anti-money laundering efforts have largely failed to stop the flow of illegal funds around the world

Negotiation skill Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 2500 words

Negotiation skill - Essay Example In the case 9 ‘Sick Leave,’ one finds a significant scope for the skill of negotiation and the dispute arising from the case illustrates how important the skill of negotiation is in the complex ways of human life in the modern world. In the presented case, there arise two pertinent questions which need to be addressed in dealing with the demands of the situation created. First of all, it is important to know what Kelly and the other ALTs do when they were denied of a sick leave as the contract agreement guarantees just on the question of cultural difference. Similarly, it is also imperative to recognize why the conflict arose in the case presented and how it could have been prevented without occurring. In this paper, the two central questions that arise out of the crisis in the case presented are dealt with and it is also vital to comprehend the value of negotiation skill which alone can deal with such important questions. Negotiation skill, as we have mentioned, is of central value in the lives of human beings and it is illustrated by the first question to be dealt with. Therefore, the skill of negotiation can be established as the central element in dealing with the first question and it is evident that only a path of negotiation will be the desirable choice the people in conflict make. Thus, the most agreeable solution to the problem that Kelly and the other ALTs confront is to opt for a negotiation with their superior Mr. Higashi. Negotiation helps these people exactly come to an agreement with the demands of the situation and conflicting issues of the disputes. As the culture from place to place differs, those elements need to be referred to in arriving at an ultimate conclusion to the conflict in question. Therefore, the foremost fact that these ALTs recognise is that culture and diversity in culture has central value in the process of negotiation. One prominent factor in the conflicts across bo arders is, as