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Networked Crime: Does the Digital Make the Difference?
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Digital technologies make access to victims easier. However, what can be afforded digitally can and was often previously afforded by other means, suggesting that what is now achieved online is only old wine in new bottles. A second line of dispute is between those who argue that, by increasing concealment (encryption), the internet also increases the likelihood of anti-social behaviour; and those who suggest digital content is more open to surveillance than face-to-face (‘real-world’) interactions, which might deter deviance. A third line of dispute is between those who suggest digital networks increase scope for transnational regulation, and those who suggest the internet increases the scope for evasion beyond geographical, and therefore legal, constraints. A fourth dimension of dispute is between advocates of ‘real virtuality’, the idea that informational content has real effects in inciting action, and those who argue that blaming media content for human behaviour is fundamentally flawed. Examining these four affordances (access, concealment, evasion and incitement) in relation to four domains of crime (hate, obscenity, corruption and appropriation), this book answers the question: does the digital make a difference? In principle, the answer is no, as digital affordances are symmetrical, but asymmetry (difference) often arises in practice.
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