Hi-Tech Crime CRIM30375

Some visitors may have noticed a couple of recent posts were articles found on The Conversation . I like The Conversation for it's intelligent, fact based, but readable articles. I've also decided that it's a great way to enhance the value of this blog, which is really designed to support a particular module, as I can reproduce articles from The Conversation thanks to their use of a Creative Commons licence. This is great for me, for my students, and hopefully for some of the academics whose articles I reproduce (as my students may well then cite them in their work). Regards from, Phil p.s. I've even gotten around to setting up an account on it. Expect some postings soon or view my online profile .

'Don't feed the trolls' really is good advice – here's the evidence Evita March , Federation University Australia Almost half the population of the planet now has access to the internet, with about one in three of those people regularly active on social media. But this increased opportunity to socialise and communicate in a virtual environment has offered new avenues for antisocial behaviour . The problem of cyberbullying has received considerable research attention . However, other online antisocial behaviours with similarly harmful outcomes have received far less consideration – one example being anonymous online trolling. Trolling behaviours typically include deliberately posting inflammatory comments and argumentative messages in an attempt to provoke, disrupt and upset others. “Trolls” may pretend to be part of the group, but their real intent is to create conflict for their own amusement. Shockingly, more than a quarter of Americans have admitted to e

Tackling online trolls doesn’t need a bigger stick – just a more effective one Sophie Stalla-Bourdillon , University of Southampton There is a vocal minority on social media that use the platforms to attack others , often with impunity. These cyber bullies or online trolls, use words and in some cases other means to cause harm – for example releasing sexually explicit images, referred to as “revenge porn”. A recent case is that of Chloe Madeley , daughter of daytime television presenters Richard Madeley and Judy Finnigan, who received abuse including death and rape threats on Twitter following her mother’s comments on the case of footballer and convicted rapist Chad Evans . With social media sites such as Facebook and Twitter barely a decade old, the UK House of Lords Select Committee on Communications looked into the nature of online abuse. In its report in July the committee stated : Our overall conclusion is that the criminal law in this area, almost entirely enacted be

Further laws to tackle sex texts with children could cause more harm than good Samantha Pegg , Nottingham Trent University The government’s announcement of a new offence which criminalises the sending of sexual messages to children by adults focuses on a very narrow perceived loophole in the existing legislation surrounding child sexual abuse. The prime minister, David Cameron, has cited the “increasing and alarming phenomenon” of paedophiles contacting children online or by text message with requests to take and send nude photos. The implication is that this is not already sufficiently clearly defined as criminal behaviour. The announcement raises many questions: what is the government looking to criminalise: all sexual communication with children? Or specifically messages where the adult is soliciting sexual images? How does existing legislation fail to regulate this activity – and how widely or narrowly should the offence be defined? The danger is that, if poorly written,

Dear All, Just a quick hello from Phil. Hello to all the students on this year's Hi-Tech Crime module at Nottingham Trent University (NTU). I look forward to meeting you and working with you this year.  You have chosen a module that covers an interesting and increasingly important area of criminology where crime meets technology. In addition to our use of NOW Mike Sutton and I will use various additional resources including our blogs.  I find that this blog is a great way to supplement and extend the more formal materials you will found on NOW. I will also be posting videos to YouTube, using instant polling services and other things to enrich your experience of the module. Regards from, Phil