The Causes and Measures of Online Deviance

Abstract

The Internet as a virtual space facilitates the phenomenon of people’s deviant behavior. Due to its enormous scale and versatility, it plays an indispensable role in modern society. It is important to maintain online environment and cybersecurity is now a major challenge to society and traditional law enforcement. How is the Internet fueled deviant behavior? What’s the difficulties of dealing with online deviance? How to implement intervention without damaging the benefits from the network? This study explains the causes of virtual deviance and gives measures, through the nature of the Internet to answer these questions. Online deviance is influenced by factors like online disinhibition, including benign and toxic disinhibition, which can lead to aggressive behavior due to the absence of immediate feedback. The Internet's characteristics, such as dissociative anonymity and minimized status and authority, worsen online disinhibition, resulting in behaviors like online harassment. Low costs and lenient enforcement contribute to the proliferation of online deviance. Accessible tools and tutorials for cyber deviance, along with online anonymity, further encourage such behavior, creating a self-perpetuating cycle. Defining online deviance is challenging due to its global nature and constantly evolving forms. Laws and definitions vary among countries, and the anonymous nature of online activities hampers identification and classification. Gathering evidence for cyber deviance cases is also complex, as electronic evidence can be tampered with or deleted. It suggests that law enforcement should pay more attention to deal with the reports from Internet users, by implementing targeted warnings and cautions in real world to stop potential criminals, as well as help potential victims be more effective in defending their rights. It also mentions an intervention from family regulatory layer can protect adolescents against deviant behavior from online community. The ideal control effect may be expected to differ, depends on local agencies’ capacity and different online policies. This study aims to elucidate the phenomenon of virtual deviance and provide feasible methods to improve online environment. The problems in online society need to be taken seriously.