EDITORIAL
Cyber Hate: Antisocial networking in the Internet
K. Jaishankar
The multi
cultural aspect of the human beings provides diversity and uniqueness.
However, the same issue which provides color for the human lives is
scorned off as many find it offensive if they find people who are not
similar to them. History, Geography, culture and society makes us
non-identical human beings and it provides us a unique identity. The
unique identity makes people to like those who look like themselves
and makes them to hate others who do not look like or identify with
their values and norms. If hating others stop with just a feeling, it
would have been fine; however, killing people in the name of hate
cannot be acceptable by any civilized society. Hate crimes was there
since time immemorial, for which examples can be cited from Bible or
Quran or Hindu Texts. "From the Romans’ persecution of Christians and
the Nazis’ “final solution” for the Jews to the “ethnic cleansing” in
Bosnia and genocide in Rwanda, hate crimes have shaped and sometimes
defined world history. " (Hamm, 1996, p. 1-2, cited in BJA, 1997, p.
ix)
Earlier, the
proliferation of hate crimes was tied to geography of the place, but
now due to the advent of modern technologies such as internet, their
proliferation has defied boundaries. Cyber hate or hate in the
cyberspace dates back to a decade. Initially hate was spread in emails
and chat rooms. But now social networking websites is being used as
the medium to spread hate. Social networking websites like Orkut,
Facebook and Myspace was originally intended to allow
people to "socialize with known or unknown individuals for the purpose
of research, entertainment, establishment of friendships or
relationships due to feelings of loneliness, and sexual gratification"
(Fraim, 2006, para 1). But these sites are now misused to the greatest
possible extent.
The use of
these sites has surged in the recent past. Sinrod (2009) cites a
research of Nielsen Online:
The time
that Americans spend on social networking sites is up a staggering 83%
from just one year ago. Facebook has become the dominant social
networking site, with total user minutes on the site at 13,872,640 for
April 2009, up 699% from 1,735,698 comparable minutes in April 2008.
Twitter is coming on like gangbusters, with total user minutes
increasing a phenomenal 3,712% from 7,865 in April 2008 to 299,836 in
April 2009. Meanwhile, while total user minutes for Myspace comes in
at a hefty 4,973,919 for April 2009, this is down 31% from 7,254,645
in April 2008, perhaps because of the surge in use of sites like
Facebook and Twitter (Para 2, 3, and 4).
The research by
Neilson online is only the tip of the iceberg as it has unearthed only
the usage of these sites by Americans. World over the usage of social
networking sites have increased in the recent past and so the case of
hate in these sites. Apart from being used as a medium to spread hate,
these social networking websites have gone to the next level. They are
now used recruit members for hate groups and militants (Reuters,
2009). According to Websense, a vendor, "Racism, hate, and militancy
sites have tripled in number over the past year on the Web and within
corners of social-networking sites like Facebook, YouTube, Google and
Yahoo" (Messmer, 2009, para 1).
According to a
recent (June 19, 2009) report of Simon Wiesenthal Center titled “Facebook,
YouTube +: How Social Media Outlets Impact Digital Terrorism and Hate,”
there is a surge of 25 per cent compared to the past year on the
growth of "problematic" social networking groups on the Internet.
"The report was based on "over 10,000 problematic web sites, social
networking groups, portals, blogs, chat rooms, videos and hate games
on the Internet which promote racial violence, anti-semitism,
homophobia, hate music and terrorism." (Reuters, para 3). According to
the report "Sites such as Facebook and YouTube have both seen a huge
proliferation of extremist use with the greatest increase coming from
overseas, particularly Europe and the Middle East" (Simon Wiesenthal
Center, 2009, para 5). The most often targeted groups in these social
networking websites are Jews, Catholics, Muslims, Hindus, gays, women
and immigrants (Reuters, 2009). Websense which also did similar
research like the Simon Wiesenthal Center "is now tracking about
15,000 of these hate and militancy sites, with 1,000 added in just the
first five months of this year" (Messmer, para 2). Simon Wiesenthal
Center's study has showed that "there was only one hate Web site in
1995, but more than 10,000 exist today" (Solomon, 2009).
As there as is
a greater surge of the sites on using it for hate purposes there will
also be a rise in the lawsuits against these sites (Sinrod, 2009).
Sinrod (2009) warns in this context:
Inevitably, we will see lawsuits where people allege that they have
been defamed by false information about them posted on social
networking pages. There also are bound to be lawsuits concerning
alleged invasion of privacy having to do with the posting of revealing
photos and videos without consent. In addition, lawsuits alleging the
improper revelation of trade secrets and intellectual property on
social networking pages could come out of the woodwork. And, we very
well may see cases in which there are allegations of harassment,
intimidation and hate speech on social networking pages. Indeed,
practically the full gamut of allegations that can be made in the real
world might find their way into the social networking world of
Cyberspace (Para9, 10, and 11).
There is a
need to prevent such hate sites and usage of social networking sites
for hate purposes. A spokeswoman for Facebook said that users are told
they cannot post content that "makes threats of any kind or that
intimidates, harasses, or bullies anyone, is derogatory, demeaning,
malicious, defamatory, abusive, offensive or hateful" (Coyle, 2008).
Still many do not find it threatening and are insensitive to others
feelings. However, many such offensive contents are removed from
facebook and the responsible accounts are disabled (Solomon, 2009).
The International Network against Cyber Hate (INACH), which was
started in 2002 significantly works against cyber hate. Organizations
such as INACH and governments should unite to work against cyber hate.
The private public partnership will help in the prevention of cyber
hate. Though this task will take a longer time, it is possible and the
need of the hour.
About
this issue:
This issue has
five articles and one book review. Higgins, Wolfe and Marcum
analyses the issue of Digital piracy in the first article of this
issue. Digital piracy has two sides. One, it is governed by laws of
developed nations to prevent and two, less developed nations do not
see this as a big issue and laws to prevent this do not exist in an
ideal manner. There are reasons for this. Less developed nations
cannot afford to buy softwares or music which are very costly and they
feel that capitalistic nations alone should not own these softwares.
Many crack sites in the internet are found and they give free access
(hacked!!) to copyrighted version of softwares or music. There are no
laws to govern this. Higgins et al study is done in a developed nation
such as US. However, there is a need to analyze this issue in least
developed nations and probably the results will be diametrically
opposite to their study.
Alaeldin
Maghaireh’s paper explores the Islamic world in
cyberspace and how propagation of Islamic ideology via the net has
become a popular medium. In the Islamic world, the issue of hacktivism
has hardly ever bothered the religious consciences. Indeed, religious
leaders refrained from condemning hacktivism and even made it appear
as if it were perpetrated to defend Islam. Therefore, extremism,
fanaticism, and violence of the Islamists have sprung up on the web.
To tackle this problem the author takes a look at the Shariah law
system, which is the ultimate criminal justice system in the Muslim
world. Contemporary Muslim thoughts, both traditionalists and
reformists, and their role in shaping a modern criminal law are
studied in depth in the paper to understand the law system. The
constructs of the Shariah law system are studied in the paper in
reference to the above views to understand the inflexibility of the
law and its inability to respond to the problem of cyber crime. The
paper urges the Muslim scholars to bring about amendments in the
traditional law system so as to accommodate the seriousness of cyber
crime and make it punishable by law. Considering cyber crime is a
growing menace, it is only wise to nip the problem in the bud, by
improvising the law system.
Today, the benefits of the Internet are being
reaped in both a positive as well as a negative manner. The global
community has become a tight knit space for communications through the
Internet. However, the Internet has also provided an easy platform for
online victimization. In this paper, Catherine Marcum aims to
create awareness on adolescent victimization online by conducting a
full fledged study on college freshmen and their experiences with
online victimization. The three constructs of the Routine Activities
Theory have been utilised to create the methodology and study the
data. The population for the research included all freshmen
enrolled in 100-level course at a mid-sized university in the
northeast during the spring 2008 academic term. Surveys were
administered to enrolled freshmen in the spring of 2008, with a focus
on their frequency and types of Internet use, and experiences with
different types of Internet victimization. The findings of this study
indicated that respondents who spent an increased amount of time using
the Internet were more likely to be victimized. The purpose of this
study is to bring about awareness on the dangers present online.
Adolescents need to be educated about these dangers, rather than
preventing them from using it. The knowledge gained from this study
should be utilized to create effective policies and programs that
educate youth and families about protecting themselves while online.
Adebusuyi I.
Adeniran’s study concentrates on the growing menace of cyber crime
in Nigeria. The author aims to understand the emergence of the
infamous ’yahooboys’ (cybercrime) sub-culture among the youths. In
this study, both the multi-linear evolutionary theory and Robert
Merton’s view is utilized to help analyze the ‘yahooboys’ sub-culture.
The study was conducted in Lagos, the commercial capital of Nigeria
and the research method used was both, survey research and participant
observation. The findings confirmed the author’s hypothesis. According
to the author, inactivity on the part of the political leadership,
which has failed in giving needed direction and opportunities to the
youths in Nigeria, has been the major factor facilitating the
unwholesome utilization of the Internet platform in defrauding
unsuspecting individuals across the globe. Moreover, poverty,
unemployment and deteriorating social standards of life have also
resulted in the enhancement of the ‘yahooboys’ sub-culture.
Hacking has
been an old problem, but has not been studied in depth. It is a global
problem and is growing at a fast pace. Hacking has been difficult to
interpret due to lack of a solid definition and vague boundaries
between computer experts and hackers, as well as those characteristics
that differentiate between various types of hackers. In this study,
Orly Turgeman-Goldschmidt has interviewed 54 hackers based on the
narrative interview technique to understand their lives, behavior, and
beliefs, as well as their perceptions of how society treats them. The
study is based on the ‘grounded theory’, a data-driven method that
produces theoretical propositions and concepts, and systematically
processes them. The paper attempts to explain the different types of
offenses that a hacker can commit. These are software piracy,
phreaking and hacking/cracking. The author has categorized the hackers
as good or bad hackers based on the basis of the hacker’s perceptions
of themselves.
Acknowledgments:
I would like to
thank all the reviewers of this issue who have helped me in reviewing
articles. I would like to thank Professor Paul Mazerolle, the Editor
of Australian and New Zealand Journal of Criminology for granting
permission to republish the Cybercrime and society book review by
Russel Smith, in this issue of IJCC. I sincerely thank Ms. Megha Asher
for significantly assisting me in the editorial process. My earnest
thanks are due to the voluntary intern of the journal Mr. Dhruv
Sharma, a law student from NALSAR University, Hyderabad for helping me
in the corrections and formatting for articles of this issue and he is
appointed as an Editorial Assistant from this issue onwards.
References
BJA (1997). A Policymaker’s Guide to
Hate Crimes. Bureau of Justice Assistance. Washington DC: US
Department of Justice.
Coyle,
J. (2008). Hate groups on social networking sites. Retrieved on 26th
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Fraim, L. N. (2006). Cyber
Socialization: What’s Missing in My Life? Paper presented at The
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Retrieved on 27th June 2009 from http://webappo.sh.se/C1256CD200369F7E/0/0A9064B157EF97AAC12570E40043DBF9/$file/Linda%20Nalan%20Fraim.doc
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