Book excerpt: High-Tech Crimes Revealed: Cyberwar Stories from the Digital Front

By Steven Branigan

July 20, 2004 12:00 PM ET

Computerworld - This excerpt is from Chapter 3, "If He Had Just Paid the Rent" from High-Tech Crimes Revealed: Cyberwar Stories from the Digital Front

"The prisoners will not be harmed, until they are found guilty."
-- Q, in "Encounter at Farpoint," from the television series Star Trek: The Next Generation

Introduction
The problem with many criminals is that they get addicted to illegal behavior. The excitement that comes from committing the first crime has its roots in the fear of getting caught. If they don't get caught, they are encouraged to do it again and possibly again. As they get away with more crimes and infractions, they begin to feel untouchable. Eventually, they feel like they can commit any crime and get away with it.
Fortunately for us, that becomes their fatal flaw. All of these little crimes eventually catch up with them. This is why police training teaches cops to investigate small crimes, because they can lead to the discovery of much larger ones. Of course, you can never tell when a small incident will turn out to be nothing or become a pretty big deal, so it is important to examine them all.
Take the case of our new friend, Wesley. He was renting an apartment in New York City for about $2,000 a month. NYC is a tenant-friendly city, so it is difficult to evict a deadbeat occupant. It did not take much for Wesley to figure this out, and soon he stopped paying the rent on his apartment -- which went on for months. As you might imagine, his landlord, William, didn't like this at all.
William was getting weary of trying to chase him down to collect the rent. He would get evasive answers and empty promises of payment, but no money. After six months of fighting for some attention, he had enough and decided to proceed with legal action. It was time to evict Wesley. It was not an easy route, but the way he saw it, he simply had no alternative.
The eviction
William hired a lawyer and filled out the necessary paperwork to start the eviction process. In NYC, this can be very tricky, and trying to do it without a lawyer is often a mistake. The process requires a final, formal demand for the rent. Once this is done, and after a few more steps, the case can go to court. Only through a trial can the landlord get the legal authority to forcibly evict the tenant. When he gets the judgment in

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