Any of these 10 online activities could land you in jail in some part of the world
Internet
is an unrestricted realm for its users. It brings you latest
information, allows you to share movies, images and music without any
bounds, allows you to communicate in a split second and share files. It
is a medium which is full of advantages, but there are some
disadvantages that come with it in some countries. Particularly if you
don’t follow certain rules and regulations laid down by these countries
while using the Internet.
Cyber crimes and terrorist attacks have
dramatically increased over the years and that may be one of the reasons
that if one is seen violating rules of Internet, he/she may be put
behind the bars.
So, see the below activities that can get you arrested in some parts of the world.
10 Online Activities That Can Get You Arrested
#1 Having An Open Wi-Fi
Keeping
your WiFi Open and not keeping it password protected can sometimes land
you in prison. Your open Wi-Fi connection can be used by criminals or
terrorists without your knowledge and this can land you in trouble with
the law in almost any country.
This happened with a person name
Barry Covert whose open WiFi was used by his neighbor to access child
pornography websites. Though, police arrested his neighbour after
investigations, Barry had to face the police questioning for a month
before the correct person was arrested.
It is always better to password protect your Wi-Fi with WEP, WPA (WPA-Personal), and WPA2 (Wi-Fi Protected Access version 2).
#2 Deleting Your Search History
Sometimes
erasing your search history can also land you behind bars. This
happened in United States, when a person namely David Kernell was
arrested for deleting information on his computer. A University of
Tennessee student, Kernell was being investigated by federal authorities
for allegedly hacking Yahoo Account of the then vice presidential
candidate, Sarah Palin. India to had brought about laws
making it mandatory for users to save their browsing history for 3
months. But the same was scrapped after there was huge public outcry
against it.
#3 Offensive Posts, Messages or Tweets
Making
offensive posts or tweets or sending offensive messages can land you in
trouble in any part of the world. Two persons from Leigh Van Bryan aged
26 and Emily Bunting aged 24 tweeted about their upcoming visit to USA,
“Free this week for a quick gossip/prep before I go and destroy
America”.
They were interrogated for about five hours by the
authorities. Bryan and Bunting tried to convince the police that
“Destroying” was a British slang for “Partying.”
#4 Using VOIP services
This
issue is country specific and only limited to Ethiopia. Using VOIP
services like Skype is strictly prohibited in Ethiopia and can land you
in prison (An user from Ethiopia has contradicted this). The country’s
new telecommunications law strictly prohibits VOIP services, which
consist of audio and video communication and transfer of information
over VOIP clients. We advise you that if you are citizen or tourist of
Ethiopia, kindly check up with authorities before using Skype or any
other VOIP services.
#5 Dancing in a Video
This
is a serious offence in Iran. In fact, six persons were arrested for
dancing to a video from Pharrell Williams song “Happy”. The Iranian
judiciary found them guilty and they received 91 lashes as well as
year’s prison sentence. Though later, the sentences were suspended and
they were let off in six months. In Russia, a youth was
jailed in Russia for 15 days and two women were jailed for 10 days after
they were found to be allegedly dancing and making a video near a
second world war memorial.
#6 Leaving Internet Comments
Syria
is now a battlefield between different warring factions for control of
territory. Even then, commenting on the Internet is a crime in Syria.
Human Rights Watch reported that in 2007, Syrian authorities arrested
two person and they were shifted to unknown place, apparently for
offering their comments about the censorship laws in Syria on a website.
#7 Translating Articles
Translating
banned books can land you in jail in any country. Thailand authorities
arrested an American citizen who translated one such article on his
blog. The article was termed as “offensive to the autocracy” by the Thai
authorities who consider their King as a supreme being. Even posting on
Facebook/tweeting against the King can land you in jail in the Lese
Majeste laws. In Indonesia, a person was put behind bars for two years after he posted “God does not Exist” on “Facebook”.
#8 Gambling
Online
gambling is banned in many countries across the globe and can land you
behind the bars. This includes if you organize gambling or play online
games like Poker, Blackjack etc.
#9 File Sharing
File
sharing is a contentious issue. In some countries you are free to share
movies, images or files without the worry of the law but in many
countries it is illegal to share what is considered as pirated content.
In some places even downloading torrents is considered as being
unlawful.
#10 Posting Lyrics on Facebook
This
may have happened only once. Unites States authorities arrested rapper
and school student, Cameron D’Ambrosio for posting rap lyrics on
Facebook. The police allege that D’Ambrosio made terrorist threats under
the garb of rap. Prosecutors sought to charge D’Ambrosio with threats
to make a bomb or hijack a vehicle, carrying a maximum sentence of 20
years in prison.
There are many such laws which can put in a spot
of bother while surfing online. Making racist comments or hurting
religious sentiments is a strict taboo online like it is in the real
world. If you know of any other such unknown laws exist in some country,
kindly note them down in the comments section.
Google now allows you to export and download your entire search
history in no time. Last year Google tested a download feature in search
history and it appears that this feature is now available for everyone.
Some of us might think that what is the need of this feature? But let
me remind you, no one wants to leave a trail of their Google search
behind, and this is an efficient way to check what Google is storing
behind you.
This feature was disovered by a blog and it tells that Google now
lets your export all your search history to Google Drive and then you
can download the searches in a ZIP archive form. The files in the ZIP
archive are arranged by year and quarter.
Here is how to download your Google search history, take a look:
How To Download Google Search History?
Step 1.
To download your search history, first you need to sign in to that account then head on over to Google Web History. Now click on the gear button and click on download.
Step 2.
Now Google will display you a warning as your Google search history may have some sensitive information.
It’ll be good if you are not downloading your search archive at public or shared computer. Now click on Create Archive.
Step 3.
Now open your Gmail account and you will find an Email, open it and you can download your Google search history from there.
How To Delete Google Search History?
To delete Google search history again click the gear button and then
click on Remove Items and select the time interval for which you want to
delete the history. Warning: Do not download your Google search history at shared or public computer.
