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EVIEWS FLUORIDE: the expense of public health. He also looks Drinking Ourselves to Death? at the misleading results of the York Review by Barry Groves of water fluoridation, published in the UK in Newleaf/Gill & Macmillan, Ireland, 2001 2000 (see 8/01), and identifies a number of ISBN 0-7171-3274-9 (329pp tpb) dentists and scientists who have been vili- Price: A$29.95; NZ$39.95; £12.99 inc fied for speaking out against the fraud of p&h; NLGf50.90, Euro23.90; CSn/a fluoridation. A damning critique as well as Availability: Australia— Banyan Tree, tel a call for integrity in scientific enquiry. (08) 8363 4244; NZ/Europe— NEXUS offices; Ireland— Gill & Macmillan, tel ELECTRONIC THEFT: +353 1 500 9500, website www.gill- Unlawful Acquisition in Cyberspace macrillan.ie; UK—National Pure Water —_ by Peter Grabosky, Russell G. Smith Association, tel 01924 254433; Canada— _ and Gillian Dempsey Hushion House, tel (416) 285 6100 Cambridge University Press, 2001 . > | 5 | ISBN 0-521-80597-X (235pp hc) Price: A$59.95; £30.00; US$49.95; NLGF139.90, Euro63.90 Availability: Australia/UK/USA— Cambridge University Press, www.cam- bridge.org; Europe—NEXUS Office Wwe the huge surge in communication and computing possibilities transform- ing our societies, new opportunities for cybercrime are proliferating. In their wide- ranging analysis, Grabosky, Smith (both criminologists and authors) and Dempsey (a barrister and senior law lecturer) focus on some of the major crimes of acquisition involving digital technology as the instru- ment of theft as well as crimes where infor- mation is the object of the theft. Though their perspective is international, they also devote considerable attention to cybertheft and the systems to control it in Australia, seeing this is where they are based. The authors say that the basic principles of criminology apply to computer-related crime as much as to any other crime; there have to be motivated offenders, suitable tar- gets available and absent "guardians". So, enter the law, and here the authors suggest that the most robust legal systems are those with "technology-neutral" laws that can be adapted to changing technological circum- stances without having to be rewritten. However, the international nature of much Cc you imagine a poison being foisted upon the population, with the full com- plicity of your government and the medical profession? Well, this is exactly what has happened to water supplies in the USA, UK, Treland, Canada, NZ and Australia over the last 50-odd years. The addition of fluoride, a highly toxic industrial waste product, to drinking water supplies amounts to mass poisoning. And contrary to the propaganda, there is no scientific justification for any dental health benefits at all, as British researcher Barry Groves ably explains in Fluoride: Drinking Ourselves to Death?. Each chapter is preceded by a quote from the British Fluoridation Society—as distrib- ca . uted in a circular sent to UK dentists—and a __ Cybercrime raises important issues to do follow-up quote from an independent doc- with sovereignty of nations and their legal tor, dentist or health specialist refuting that POWers to handle, say, infringements of statement according to established evidence. intellectual property rights over software. Coverage includes the fraudulent history The authors cover all this and more, includ- behind water fluoridation, health problems ing hacking, digital extortion, defrauding of such as cancer, dental fluorosis, osteoporo- _ g0Vernments, telephone and Internet ser- sis and high infant mortality related to fluo- _Vices fraud, online securities fraud, mislead- ride intake by drinking or through the skin _ing online advertising, industrial espionage, when bathing, and the questionable ethics of _ the misuse of personal information and the fluoridating water supplies. abuse of privacy laws. They also look at the Groves strikes it home how government limits of the law in controlling electronic health bodies, scientists, medical and dental _ theft, but consider a variety of strategies that practitioners have erred in allowing or sup- can be adopted by governments and busi- porting water fluoridation based on both nesses to help prevent it—though some of shoddy science and dogmatic ignorance at these may have wider ramifications for per- sonal privacy and Internet freedoms. the expense of public health. He also looks at the misleading results of the York Review of water fluoridation, published in the UK in 2000 (see 8/01), and identifies a number of dentists and scientists who have been vili- fied for speaking out against the fraud of fluoridation. A damning critique as well as a call for integrity in scientific enquiry. ELECTRONIC THEFT: Unlawful Acquisition in Cyberspace by Peter Grabosky, Russell G. Smith and Gillian Dempsey Cambridge University Press, 2001 ISBN 0-521-80597-X (235pp hc) Price: A$59.95; £30.00; US$49.95; NLG#139.90, Euro63.90 Availability: Australia/UK/USA— Cambridge University Press, www.cam- bridge.org; Europe—NEXUS Office Wwe the huge surge in communication and computing possibilities transform- ing our societies, new opportunities for cybercrime are proliferating. In their wide- ranging analysis, Grabosky, Smith (both criminologists and authors) and Dempsey (a barrister and senior law lecturer) focus on some of the major crimes of acquisition involving digital technology as the instru- ment of theft as well as crimes where infor- mation is the object of the theft. Though their perspective is international, they also devote considerable attention to cybertheft and the systems to control it in Australia, seeing this is where they are based. The authors say that the basic principles of criminology apply to computer-related crime as much as to any other crime; there have to be motivated offenders, suitable tar- gets available and absent "guardians". So, enter the law, and here the authors suggest that the most robust legal systems are those with "technology-neutral" laws that can be adapted to changing technological circum- stances without having to be rewritten. However, the international nature of much cybercrime raises important issues to do with sovereignty of nations and their legal powers to handle, say, infringements of intellectual property rights over software. The authors cover all this and more, includ- ing hacking, digital extortion, defrauding of governments, telephone and Internet ser- vices fraud, online securities fraud, mislead- ing online advertising, industrial espionage, the misuse of personal information and the abuse of privacy laws. They also look at the limits of the law in controlling electronic theft, but consider a variety of strategies that can be adopted by governments and busi- nesses to help prevent it—though some of these may have wider ramifications for per- sonal privacy and Internet freedoms. 76 = NEXUS www.nexusmagazine.com DECEMBER 2001 — JANUARY 2002