Computer technology in romantic fiction:
What does computer technology have to do with romance novels?
“You mean in addition to using them to write your story?”
“Better than a typewriter,” a rioter yelled. Laughter goes up the room.
“Yes,” I reply.
Someone yelled, “You can use computers to find Romance.”
“Ah, good. Now you’re thinking. How many of you have done this?”
Some hands rise above the crowd.
“Oh come on. There has to be more than a handful.”
More arms slide up and rise higher than heads.
“Okay. Let’s get on with that topic, Social media with a sociopath.”
Imagine if you want, that you have a heroine who just wants to find romance. After dating the losers of the century, she decides there has to be a better way. Unable and unwilling to try and shoot Mr. Right by her own judgment, she turns to an online dating service. After all, they guarantee a “happily ever after” or your money back.
After registering for the service, our heroine, let’s call her Jane, sits at home, turns on her computer and logs in to the dating website. Once there, she goes through the recommended matches. Finally, she chooses a couple and contacts them. Two days later, Jane goes on her first date.
Both dates with potential Mr. Right are fine, but when they kiss, her toes don’t curl, so she decides to move on to Mr. Wrong. Unfortunately, Mr. Wrong refuses to give up on her. It turns out that the guy Jane chose was not only Mr. Wrong, but he’s also a stalker. Because Jane let him pick her up for one of her dates, the “wacko” now knows where he lives and chooses to follow her wherever he wants her to go, even when he’s on other dates.
“What do you think so far?”
“The guy is a real nutcase!”
“Yeah, but it happens,” someone else yelled.
“Right. Now, let’s take this one step further.”
Our wacko, aka Bob, has been on a couple of dates with Jane, so he obviously knows something about her likes and dislikes. Unless, of course, he’s one of those guys who only talks about himself.
Low laughter rumbles through the room.
Let’s say you know what Jane has been looking for. craigslist.com and ebay.com to buy a Denon double tape deck. This is something she desperately wants and regularly seeks out. Now Bob has an idea. Bob places an ad on both Craigslist and eBay for the exact deck he knows Jane wants, and sure enough, Jane sees it and responds.
Jane is so excited that she finally found what she was looking for that she doesn’t waste time on an offer, she just offers the full amount. The seller accepts the money from her and Jane can’t wait to go pick it up. She gets goosebumps just thinking about her new electronic gadget. After making an appointment to retrieve her purchase, she uses the instructions emailed to her and drives to the address.
Imagine the look on Jane’s face, the look of complete surprise and the lump in her throat when Bob answers the door. Not only is she shocked to see Bob, but there is no cassette player. Jane turns and runs out of there. That my dear friends is fraud.
“Are you seeing where I’m going here? Until now, our antagonist has used computer technology to defraud and stalk our protagonist.”
“Do people really do that?”
“Duh!” a man yelled from the back of the room.
Waving her hands, she announces, “We’re not done yet. What else can this lone antagonist use computer technology to wreak havoc on our lovable leading lady?”
“Cyber Stalking!”
My turn to laugh. “Okay. Bob’s already been identified as a stalker, why not cyberstalk him?”
“What does that mean exactly?” Several voices shouted at once.
cyber bullying occurs when someone uses the Internet or other electronic means to stalk another person. Tools like email, instant messaging, and websites are great for harassing and threatening someone. The social networking site can be a breeding ground for this type of antisocial behavior. sites like My space, Facebookand Twitter allow others to follow you and leave comments for you and others to see. You can try to block them, but there are ways around it as simple as creating another account and starting over.
“Plus, the fear, it makes you cringe from the cyberbullying kind of creepy factor. There’s so much more that Bob, our villain, can do.”
“As?”
Big smile on my face. “I’m glad you asked. Have you ever heard of Phishing?”
“You mean trout fishing?”
The roar of laughter breaks out. I clear my throat. “Not quite.”
Phishing is usually carried out through an email or a website meant to represent a real company, but it is not. For example, Phishing is used in those bogus emails you get from your bank that say, “We need you to confirm your account.” Jane, our unsuspecting victim, clicks the link in the message and is redirected to a fake website. She does as directed and fills in her personal information, including her credit card or bank account numbers. Bob, who was a stalker and committed a little fraud, now committed another act of fraud and stole financial information that he could, and probably did, use to get another credit card with his account number and/or buy something. Knowing this sick, he bought a neglected one and sent it to Jane as a gift.
“Do you remember the movie, ‘The Net’?”
The crowd shouts: “Yes.”
That movie was based on the use of software to steal another person’s identity. Essentially, Bob has everything he needs from Jane to steal her identity by Phishing her. But, he could have obtained the information in another way. Let’s say Bob is a real hacker.
“This guy just keeps getting worse and worse!”
“No doubt, but to continue.”
Bob is a software guru and knows how to hack systems. He can, based on the little information he has already received unexpectedly from Jane, he can use a snort to get your passwords. With the passwords, Bob now has the ability to access other websites that Jane uses or her email or anything else she thinks is secure. He could go into her email and send it elsewhere or close it. He could log into his bank and transfer all his funds.
Lifting an index finger, I take a sip of water and start again.
Bob is even worse than you imagined. You see, Bob wanted to date Jane to get inside information on her business competitor. Through those passwords that he managed to acquire from Jane’s computer, Bob commits himself to industrial espionage. You can get information about the company’s finances, its research and development, marketing, and even personnel records. The really terrible part of this is that he used Jane’s login credentials, so when the break-in and theft is discovered, it will appear that Jane did it or was involved.
“Oh no!”
“Oh yes. But I’m not done.”
Bob is a career criminal. With access to the network at Jane’s company, Bob has installed software that gives him access to the funds in her financial accounts. He can siphon and move the money to various accounts of his own, hiding the source of his newfound wealth. He is money laundering in the digital age.
Someone like Bob could be in it himself, or he could be in it with a partner. Bob’s partner in crime is a terrorist.
Loud gasps break out across a crowded room.
Bob is laundering money for his unsympathetic terrorist who needs it to hack into the websites of government organizations. cyber terrorism. An example of this occurred last year when someone hacked into the website of the Republic of Georgia during the Georgian-Ossetian war. This type of terrorism is a small potato compared to the underlying reason why a terrorist would pay Bob untraceable money. Usually there are illegal weapons, drugs, transportation of people and many other illegal activities.
“What does all that have to do with Jane?” A lonely woman called from her seat.
“Ah. It all started with Jane.”
Jane was the conduit for all these bad things to happen. If it wasn’t for Jane’s lack of computer knowledge and security, Bob would never have been able to fool her as much as he did. Also, remember, to the naked eye, with no experience, Jane will appear to be the criminal.
Our antagonist did an excellent job of antagonizing our good-natured protagonist who was only looking for romance.
