# data[].attributes.body
The Silk Road was an online marketplace part of the dark web that was accessible through the use of specific softwares that allowed users to anonymously view, sell and buy illicit products such as forged documents and heavy drugs with the digital cryptocurrency, Bitcoin. In 2011 the site was created by former physics and engineering student from Texas, Ross Ulbricht, until it was later shut down by the FBI two years later. Silk Road’s user anonymity was made possible by a private network called The Onion Router (Tor) which keeps IP addresses and browsing history concealed. The creator of Silk Road now serves life imprisonment and a fine of $183 million US dollars. Ulbricht had taken the name of the site from the historical trade route used between the second century BCE and the mid-15th century. Silk Road was often described as the ‘Ebay for drugs’ due to 16/20 categories available to choose from on the site being drug-related. These purchases consisted of both ‘soft’ and ‘hard’ drugs such as marijuana, heroin, and high-grade crystal meth. Members of the FBI named Silk Road “The most sophisticated and extensive criminal marketplace on the internet”, with over 950,000 users interacting with the illegal website resulting in Ulbricht earning $80 million by the time the site was shut down.

Since this crime involves an online market allowing purchases of illicit goods through cryptocurrency, it is classified as a cyber-enabled crime which is a traditional crime that has been influenced and advanced by technology. The impacts Silk Road left can be identified when viewing federal law enforcements and the rapid rise in advancements relating to cybersecurity and other crypto crimes, while also effectively discouraging individuals from engaging with certain subcultures that participate in illegal online behaviours.

# data[].attributes.attachment_link.title
FBI busts founder of online drug market silk road

# data[].attributes.body
In August 2017 between the dates of the 11 and 12th, over 600 people united in Charlottesville, Virginia as a way of showing support for white supremacist and nationalist ideologies. The rally was given the name 'Unite the Right' where protesters voiced their strong opinions against the councils' immediate call for all Confederate commemorations to be dismantled.

The accelerated discourse in the media led an activist and communications director from North Carolina, Logan Smith, to expose the rally attendees online. This action has been given the name 'doxing'. Smith ran a successful account on Twitter by the name of @YesYoureRacist, that aimed to name and shame those who attended the Charlottesville rally. The term comes from 'dropping dox/ documents' and when a person is doxxed, it is the equivalence of having their personal information released to the public without their knowledge or consent. Due to the widespread attention that the account had received from the public, he gained 300,00 new followers in the first week and within just under 4 days of creating the posts, two men had already been publicly identified and fired from their jobs.

As a result of this, to prevent similar consequences individuals who support extreme far-right political beliefs and promoted ideologies involving white supremacy online began to conceal their identities out of fear. Some went to such lengths including using VPN services and in some cases, underwent pseudonyms in an attempt to avoid being doxxed. With that in mind, a large percentage of those who attended the rally were expecting and familiar with the possible consequences that came along with participating.

Due to the great power that technology has in more recent times, the man behind the doxing did make it clear that he was aware of possible risks involved with his actions. One of these dangers is the misidentification of a person which is more than likely to result in large lawsuits. While part of the media had initially viewed Smith’s form of digital activism as inspiring, other sides of the conversation realised that this is a dark concept despite the motivation behind it. Some had even taken their distaste for Smith’s heroic doing as far as sending him and his family members death threats, though he continued to stand by his cause.

# data[].attributes.attachment_link.readable_text
The violent clashes happened on Aug. 12, 2017.

Images of neo-Nazis marching in the streets and violent clashes between alt-right protesters and counterprotesters in Charlottesville last year are still fresh in many residents' minds.

On Aug. 12, 2017, a "Unite the Right" rally in Charlottesville turned deadly when a 20-year-old Ohio man allegedly accelerated his car into a crowd of counter-protesters, killing 32-year-old Heather Heyer and leaving 19 others injured, five critically.

Now, some of the same right-wing groups involved in those events in Charlottesville are planning another protest to coincide with the anniversary this weekend. Virginia Gov. Ralph Northam and the city of Charlottesville declared states of emergency ahead of this weekend's anniversary. The governor said in a press conference Wednesday he will allow agencies to call in the National Guard to assist in security efforts.

But larger protests are planned for Washington D.C. Here's what you need to know.

What happened last year?

Charlottesville, best known for being home to the state university created by Thomas Jefferson, may seem like an unusual choice for a heated battle involving neo-Nazis, but there was a reason that "Unite the Right" organizers chose the town for their rally.

Charlottesville had been in a months-long battle over what to do with a statue of Gen. Robert E. Lee, who led the Confederate army during the Civil War.

Many cities across the country have been grappling with what to do with their Confederate statues, as some feel that they are reminders of a dark time of racism in U.S. history and should be taken down.

Earlier in 2017, the Charlottesville City Council had voted to remove the Lee statue and rename the park where it is located.

A group of white nationalists protested the decision in May, prompting criticism from the mayor. But that protest paled in comparison to what unfolded in August.

The "Unite the Right" rally was scheduled for Sat. Aug. 12 and participants started to gather in Charlottesville the night before.

A group of white nationalists holding lit tiki torches marched through the campus of the University of Virginia, some chanting the Nazi-associated phrase "blood and soil."

The formal rally was scheduled to start at noon Saturday but the first skirmishes of the day between protesters and counter-protesters were reported that morning.

Tensions soared and Virginia Gov. Terry McAuliffe declared a state of emergency before noon that day. The violence reached its peak at 1:42 p.m. when James Alex Fields rammed his car into a crowd of counterprotesters.

Heyer was killed and 19 others were injured.

Two Virginia State Police troopers were killed when their helicopter crashed outside of Charlottesville. The troopers, Lt. H. Jay Cullen and Trooper-Pilot Berke M.M. Bates, were lending air support in response to the violence in Charlottesville.

Trump's controversial response

President Donald Trump was spending time at his golf club in Bedminister, New Jersey, and released a statement condemning the violence but not calling out the white nationalist and neo-Nazi groups in attendance.

"We condemn in the strongest possible terms this egregious display of hatred, bigotry, and violence on many sides - on many sides," Trump said in a short statement delivered in New Jersey. "It's been going on for a long time in our country. Not Donald Trump. Not Barack Obama. It's been going on for a long, long time."

Trump tweeted twice more that afternoon, offering condolences to the families of Heyer and the troopers, but did not make any specific mention of the controversial groups.

On Aug. 13, a White House spokesperson who would not be publicly identified released a statement about Trump's comments Saturday.

"The president said very strongly in his statement yesterday that he condemns all forms of violence, bigotry, and hatred, and of course that includes white supremacists, KKK, neo-Nazi and all extremist groups. He called for national unity and bringing all Americans together," the White House spokesperson said.

It wasn't until two days later, on Monday afternoon, that Trump made another televised statement, this time, being more explicit.

"Racism is evil. And those who cause violence in its name are criminals and thugs, including the KKK, neo-Nazis, white supremacists and other hate groups that are repugnant to everything we hold dear as Americans," he said.

"To anyone who acted criminally in this weekend's racist violence, you will be held fully accountable. Justice will be delivered," he added.

But Trump added more fuel to the fire on Tuesday, Aug. 15 during a televised press conference in which he lashed out at criticism of his initial statement.

Asked about his immediate response Saturday, Trump quickly went on to blame both sides for the conflict, adding that there were "very fine people" among both the white supremacists and the counter-protesters.

"I think there is blame on both sides. You look at both sides. I think there is blame on both sides," Trump said during his remarks on Aug. 15.

"You had some very bad people in that group. You also had some very fine people on both sides," he added.

What is expected to happen this weekend?

Groups from both sides of the conflict have planned public demonstrations on the anniversary of the Charlottesville clashes, but this time they're moving it to a bigger stage.

Permits for protests have been granted in different parts of Washington D.C., with the organizers of the original "Unite the Right" rally planning to march from a nearby Metro station to a demonstration in Lafayette Square Park, directly opposite the White House.

Multiple counter-demonstrations have also received permits, including groups like Black Lives Matter and an individual who plans to burn a Confederate flag in Lafayette Park.

More details about the demonstrations are expected to be released in the coming days.

# data[].attributes.attachment_link.title
What to know about the violent Charlottesville protests and anniversary rallies

# data[].attributes.attachment_link.description
The violent clashes happened on Aug. 12, 2017.

# data[].attributes.headline
Deepfake replicates CEO for a financial scam

# data[].attributes.subject
Deepfake replicates CEO for a financial scam

# data[].attributes.body
A finance specialist in Hong Kong paid $25 million to an online scammer after being deceived over a business video call by using a live deepfake video editor to pose as the company’s Chief financial officer in February 2024. A 'Deepfake' is a newer form of artificial intelligence that is used to create both realistic audio and videos of real people by seamlessly morphing an image or sound with another. This crime is a type of fraud that has been cyber-enabled which means the type of crime can be done both in the physical world and digitally thanks to the evolution of technology. In similar instances, criminals have used artificial intelligence alongside fraud to spread misinformation and create reputational harm through identity theft.

Crimes using artificial intelligence to create social engineering scams and those similar are often explained by the Routine Activity Theory, this can be used to explain crime from the offender's point of view through 3 elements that form an opportunity for a crime to be made.  The first element is the idea that the offender is motivated to commit the crime and is capable of doing so when the chance is available to them. The second element requires a setting for a suitable target of the crime, this can be anywhere as long as the subject can be reached. Lastly, the absence of a guardian who can intervene. For a crime like this to have taken place it means the offender had targeted their victim by gaining their trust, in this case, the offender had posed as someone the victim trusted.

As machine learning frequently appears in the digital world, many countries have worked to combat the potential risks that stem from the issues surrounding new technology advancements. Within the European Union, large tech names like Google and Meta Platforms have agreed to strengthen policies regarding fake accounts and users involving deep fakes. As for the USA and Eastern Asia, laws that involve criminal penalties for deep fakes of nonconsensual pornography and political influence purposes have been placed.

# data[].attributes.body
The web service browser, Yahoo, was investigated by the FBI in 2014 after 26 of its users were hacked by an anonymous collective at the time. In 2016 a similar incident occurred which was able to trace back to the previous event just two years prior. That same hacker collaborated with high profile coders in Russia to gain access to the company’s personal database as well as over 500 million users' private information under a category titled ‘Account Management’. The hack was carried out by Igor Sushchin and Dmitry Dokuchaev, former intelligence officers part of the Russian Federal Security Service. After the FBI’s prolonged inquiry it was discovered that Aleksey Belan and Karim Baratov, a commercial hacker, were personally employed by the Russian agents to assist them.

Due to the entire investigation taking 2 years to uncover, Yahoo and its users were put at great risk as their data was leaked and under attack across the dark web. The Yahoo database contained users login details and phone numbers, as well as the individual hash values of digital combinations that translate to unique account codes.

Digital crimes such as hacking are commonly motivated and introduced to the offenders through Bandura’s popularised ‘Social Learning theory’. This theory studies the correlation between a criminal and their associates, and more specifically, how the social groups and settings a person surrounds themselves with has the ability to influence and educate an individual to behave in a similar way whether that be in a positive or negative light.

# data[].attributes.body
Spring Cooper is a college professor in New York City who was awarded $30 million in damages from a lawsuit against her ex-partner, Ryan Broems, after he posted private sexual content of her online following their breakup. The compensation awarded gave the case the title of the largest verdict to be given in image-based abuse crimes in New York, as stated by the New York Post. This crime is often presented under the name 'Revenge Porn', described as "sexually explicit photos or videos shared or threatened to be shared online without the consent of the victim". On average, 1/25 Americans have been a victim of revenge porn, and 57% of victims consisted of women. Online abuse is generally caused by an offender finding a suitable target and gaining control over them, usually by threatening. This is associated with the Routine Activity Theory, formulated by Lawrence Cohen and Marcus Felson in 1979. This theory outlines that the offender must have motivation behind the act or crime and the absence of a capable guardian is satisfied.

Due to the mass prevalence of technology, law enforcement across the United States of America has added new laws surrounding image-based abuse. Since 2017, there have been 38/50 states that have created revenge porn laws. Such crimes can be prevented from being posted online by strengthening guidelines and internet safety standards across tech platforms.