Out of control online? A combined examination of peer-offending and perceived formal and informal social control in relation to system-trespassing

Abstract

General rightsCopyright and moral rights for the publications made accessible in the public portal are retained by the authors and/or other copyright owners and it is a condition of accessing publications that users recognise and abide by the legal requirements associated with these rights.• Users may download and print one copy of any publication from the public portal for the purpose of private study or research. • You may not further distribute the material or use it for any profit-making activity or commercial gain • You may freely distribute the URL identifying the publication in the public portal ? Take down policyIf you believe that this document breaches copyright please contact us providing details, and we will remove access to the work immediately and investigate your claim.

Perceived Formal and Informal Sanctions in Deterring Cybercrime in a College Sample

“…Bossler (2019) found that college students were less willing to commit caused-based cyber attacks against domestic and foreign targets if they reported that participating in the behavior would negatively impact how others viewed them. Berenblum et al (2019), however, did not find that college students’ perceptions of control exerted by other internet users (i.e., informal social control) was significantly related to guessing passwords and accessing others’ accounts. In Young et al’s (2007) study of participants at a DefCon conference, hackers reported that there are few informal sanctions placed on their hacking.…”

“…Bossler (2019), however, found that perceptions of formal sanctions were not significantly related to college students’ willingness to commit political cause-based cyber attacks. Berenblum et al (2019) also did not find perceived levels of online formal social control, perceptions of getting caught online, and perceived knowledge of cybercrime laws to be significantly related to system trespassing. Contrary to much of the traditional literature, Skinner and Fream (1997) found in their seminal work that perceived certainty of detection by administrators or other students did not deter college students from attempting to hack computers, but that their perceptions of the severity of punishment were negatively correlated with hacking.…”

“…Self-reported computer skills was measured with the following item: “When I compare my current computer skill level with that of my peers, I consider my skills to be: (0) Far below average”; (1) Below average; (2) Average; (3) Above average; or (4) Far above average.” Levels of computer skills may be related to digital piracy (Gunter, 2009) and more advanced forms of hacking (Kranenbarg et al, 2019; Morris & Blackburn, 2009), but not minor forms of hacking in college samples (Berenblum et al, 2019).…”

“…The amount of time respondents spent online was measured by asking how many hours they spent each week in: (1) chatrooms/Internet Relay Chat (IRC)/Instant Messaging (IM); (2) social media (e.g., Twitter, facebook); (3) online gaming; and (4) watching movies or shows online (options were: 0 = none; 1 = < 1 hr; 2 = 1–2 hr; 3 = 3–5 hr; 4 = 6–9 hr; and 5 = 10 or more hours). Previous studies have generally found that spending more time online is related to digital piracy (e.g., Moon et al, 2013; but see Donner, 2016), hacking (e.g., Donner, 2016; Moon et al, 2013; Morris & Blackburn, 2009; but see Berenblum et al, 2019), and cyberharassment (e.g., Donner, 2016; J. M. Lee et al, 2018).…”

“…Most nations, including the United States, have heavily centered their cybercrime prevention efforts on improving law enforcement’s capabilities of responding to an increasing amount of cybercrime (Holt et al, 2015). If cybercrime cannot be attributed to certain actors, a state is not able to effectively exert its control in cyberspace (Berenblum et al, 2019). Scholars have therefore been concerned about the effectiveness of deterrence-based strategies in preventing different forms of cybercrime, including but not limited to digital piracy, hacking, and online harassment (Brenner, 2010).…”