By Foltz, Joan E
The Futurist

Much of the modern organized crimes are very similar to the old. The most significant transformation from the streets to cyberspace has enlarged the territory of individuals and organized groups. Enabled by the Internet, criminals can operate in cyberspace where less governance, a transnational stage, and a multitude of transactions to monitor complicate surveillance and enforcement. From counterfeiting drugs and software to identity theft and credit- card fraud, illegal transactions are increasingly infiltrating legitimate businesses where counterfeited goods and money laundering are buried in the billions of legitimate computer transactions made daily around the globe.

The following sampling of the U.S. Department of Justice prosecutions in 2007 and 2008 shows that crimes that were once national or regional now commonly cross borders and have a transnational impact on businesses and victims.

* A Boeing engineer stole trade secrets related to aerospace programs, including the Space Shuttle, the C-17 military transport aircraft, and the Delta IV rocket, to sell to the People's Republic of China.

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