Crimes Figures Double after cyber offences are included

New figures from the office of national statistics released today show 5.1 million fraud offences and 2.5 million crimes under the computer misuse act.

The figures in respect of the overall increase is misleading as cyber offences were not previously included but this does show the very widespread growth of cyber crime.

Rear view (mirror) - cybercrime statistics and cord nevers

'When faced with a totally new situation,' McLuhan famously says, 'we tend always to attach ourselves to the objects, to the flavor of the most recent past. We look at the present through a rear-view mirror. We march backwards into the future.'

The announcement today that UK cybercrime statistics to be released on Thursday will show a massive jump - making them the biggest single grouping - is coming straight through the windscreen. Definitions are always a challenge but if file sharing etc was included in this then it is no real surprise. The gap in understanding has been caused by the time it takes to collect the figures.

Similarly the emerging data on cord nevers and cord cutting in the TV industry in the US makes sense given the ease of viewing pirate material from most major distributors nothwithstanding the technology that has been thrown at it.