University of Huddersfield Repository Suarez, Jorge Ramiro Perez We are Cyborgs: Developing a Theoretical Model for Understanding Criminal Behaviour on the Internet Original Citation Suarez, Jorge Ramiro Perez (2015) We are Cyborgs: Developing a Theoretical Model for Understanding Criminal Behaviour on the Internet. Doctoral thesis, University of Huddersfield. This version is available at http://eprints.hud.ac.uk/id/eprint/28324/ The University Repository is a digital collection of the research output of the University, available on Open Access. Copyright and Moral Rights for the items on this site are retained by the individual author and/or other copyright owners. Users may access full items free of charge; copies of full text items generally can be reproduced, displayed or performed and given to third parties in any format or medium for personal research or study, educational or not-for-profit purposes without prior permission or charge, provided: • The authors, title and full bibliographic details is credited in any copy; • A hyperlink and/or URL is included for the original metadata page; and • The content is not changed in any way. For more information, including our policy and submission procedure, please contact the Repository Team at: [email protected]. http://eprints.hud.ac.uk/ WE ARE CYBORGS: DEVELOPING A THEORETICAL MODEL FOR UNDERSTANDING CRIMINAL BEHAVIOUR ON THE INTERNET JORGE RAMIRO PÉREZ SUÁREZ A thesis submitted to the University of Huddersfield in partial fulfilment of the requirements for the degree of Doctor of Philosophy The University of Huddersfield December 2015 Copyright Statement i. The author of this thesis (including any appendices and/or schedules to this thesis) owns any copyright in it (the “Copyright”) and s/he has given The University of Huddersfield the right to use such Copyright for any administrative, promotional, educational and/or teaching purposes. ii. Copies of this thesis, either in full or in extracts, may be made only in accordance with the regulations of the University Library. Details of these regulations may be obtained from the Librarian. This page must form part of any such copies made. iii. The ownership of any patents, designs, trademarks and any and all other intellectual property rights except for the Copyright (the “Intellectual Property Rights”) and any reproductions of copyright works, for example graphs and tables (“Reproductions”), which may be described in this thesis, may not be owned by the author and may be owned by third parties. Such Intellectual Property Rights and Reproductions cannot and must not be made available for use without the prior written permission of the owner(s) of the relevant Intellectual Property Rights and/or Reproductions. 2 Dedications To my parents: For their unyielding love, patience and support. My mother kindled my love for law and criminology. I am ever grateful. 3 Acknowledgments Thanks to my supervisors, Bernard Gallagher, Graham Gibbs and Jason Roach that guided, advised me and believed in me for the whole of process. Thanks to all the staff at the University of Huddersfield, that made this university a home away from home. Thanks to all the law enforcement agents that dedicated their time to answering my questions, with dedication and kindness. Thanks to all the people that took time to answer my survey, to the ones who shared it and to the ones who commented on it. Thanks to Javier Merino, for his invaluable help as a research assistant. Thanks to Daniel Briggs, for his relevant comments on structure and content. Thanks to my friends, who cheered me up and didn’t let me succumb to despair. Most especially, to Alejandro, Javier, Antonio, Nieves, Lola, Elena, Leanne and Inés. Thanks to all the people that showed interest in my career and my research in social networks. Thanks to my students for their interest, their curiosity and their passion in learning criminology. Thanks to all my colleagues at Universidad Europea de Madrid, for being a great bunch of professionals and fantastic individuals. Thanks to Maria José Molina, for her consideration in the final moments of my writing process. Also, to Gema Botana and Luis Calandre. 4 Academic Biography Jorge Ramiro Pérez Suárez is a qualified solicitor in Spain and a qualified solicitor in Scotland. He has also been awarded with a Masters in Legal Practice in Spain, a MSc in Criminology and Criminal Justice from the University of Edinburgh and was part of the European Young Lawyers Scheme 2016 at the University of Edinburgh. Jorge has worked as a solicitor in Spain for several years, specialising in criminal law. He has also worked in Scotland as a Procurator Fiscal Depute and at University of Edinburgh as a tutor. Jorge is working full-time for Universidad Europea de Madrid since 2010, where he teaches several criminology modules (both online and campus-based and in English and Spanish) and several online law modules. Jorge also directs and supervises the criminology final project module and directs the student criminology research group at his university. In addition, he supervises the Erasmus programmes for law and criminology and has worked in the forging of a long-lasting relationship with the University of Huddersfield after being invited as a guest academic during 2011. Jorge is very keen on the use of innovation in education, as his methodologies imply the use of narratives such as short stories, pop culture and poetry in teaching criminology. He has published a book called “Las Crónicas de Enriq” (The Enriq Chronicles) that is both a compilation of short stories and poems for teaching purposes and a short criminology handbook. Jorge is currently co-editing a book on the current state of criminology in Spain. His areas of interest are cybercrime, sociology of cyberspace, police and policing and innovation in teaching. He is also very active in using social networks for teaching purposes. Jorge is one of the founding members and advisor of the Spanish Association of Criminology Students and has received two awards from the School of Social Sciences at Universidad Europea: one in 2010 for the use of social responsibility in teaching criminology and one in 2011 for his international work with the University of Huddersfield. 5 Abstract: Technology has supposed a profound paradigm shift in human evolution, following Haraway’s cyborg metaphor we have forged a profound psycho-social rapport machines. This connectivity has also brought changes in crime patterns and fostered the development of cybercrime. From a criminological perspective, this work aims to explore the role of Per-Olof Wikströms Situational Action Theory in explaining cybercrime by including Syke and Matza’s neutralisation techniques in its formulation. The SAT-RI (SAT- Revised for the Internet) takes into consideration the interaction between cyber-crime propensity (based essentially in moral perceptions), the internet, neutralisation techniques (cognitive scripts used as protection against blame) and self-control. The theory was tested by using a mixed methods design that includes an online survey (N=709) and case studies (N=20) stemming from interviews with law enforcement agents. Once the data was analysed, it was demonstrated that individuals with low self-control tend to have higher cybercrime propensity and are more prone to justify their acts by using adequate neutralisations. In addition, there are differences in the perceptions of cybercriminals by law enforcement agents depending on whether they are fraudsters, child sex abusers, sex abusers or hackers. The resulting theory can be useful in terms of prevention, as it can help design programmes that focus on the different stages of the cybercrime process (self-control, propensity or neutralisation). Also, the thesis calls for a more anthropological conception of cyber- criminology called cyborg criminology. 6 Chapter 1: Introduction 13 Chapter 2: Literature Review 21 2.1. Cybercrime 21 2.1.1. The concept of crime 21 2.1.2. The concept of cybercrime 22 2.1.3. Cybercrime in UK and Spanish legislation 28 2.1.4. Classifications of cybercrime 36 2.1.5. The explanation of cybercrime via criminological theory 38 2.2. Situational Action Theory (SAT) 45 2.3. Situational Action Theory Revised for the Internet (SAT-RI) 56 2.3.1. The internet as an environment 56 2.3.2. Personal propensity for the commission of cybercrimes 58 2.4. Neutralisation Techniques 61 2.4.1. Neutralisation techniques: Sykes and Matza 61 2.4.2. Neutralisation techniques on the Internet 65 2.5. Summary of SAT-RI and Research Questions 70 Chapter 3: Methodology 73 3.1. Aims and Objectives 73 3.2. Research Approach 76 3.2.1. A mixed methods study 76 3.2.2. Epistemology 81 3.2.2. PADS+ as a methodological example of applying SAT 84 3.3. Online Survey on Attitudes Towards Cybercrime 86 3.3.1. Sample 87 3.3.2. Instrument 90 3.3.2.1. Information, consent and demographics 90 3.3.2.2. Self-control scale 92 3.3.2.3. Cybercrime vignettes 94 3.3.3. Procedure 99 3.3.4. Reliability, validity and generalizability 103 7 3.3.4.1. Reliability 103 3.3.4.2. Validity 104 3.3.4.3. Generalizability 105 3.3.5. Analysis 106 3.4. Interviews with Law Enforcement Agents 107 3.4.1. Sample 107 3.4.2. Instrument 112 3.4.3. Procedure 113 3.4.4. Reliability, validity and generalizability 115 3.4.5. Analysis 117 3.5. Ethics 120 3.5.1. Ethics in an online environment 122 Chapter 4: Findings - Online Survey on Attitudes Towards Cybercrime 125 4.1. Demographics 125 4.2. Self-Control Scale 127 4.3. Vignettes 134 4.3.1. Morality 137 4.3.2. Engagement 151 4.3.3. Neutralisation techniques 163 4.3.4.