Online Lives Research Articles

Coronavirus and Fraud in the UK: From the Responsibilisation of the Civil Society to the Deresponsibilisation of the State

The sudden move of our lives online during the coronavirus pandemic has dramatically increased fraud risks. The personal and economic harms are enormous. The UK Government is responding with a two-fold approach. On the one hand, it relies on traditional law enforcement. On the other hand, it seeks to encourage individuals, businesses and public agencies to take responsibility in controlling and preventing crime by changing their practices through information campaigns and risk assessment and management., a strategy known as 'responsibilisation'. While literature in the last few decades has broadly analysed the social implications of responsibilisation on crime control in general, not many studies have focused on the specific area of financial crime. This study assesses the UK response to COVID-19-related fraud risks in light of the literature on responsibilisation through a comparative review of different policies and practices by various government agencies. Our analysis will reveal that the UK Government’s two-fold approach to fraud and financial crime is inherently inadequate to effectively prevent crime. Strained law enforcement agencies and regulators struggle to cope with the high numbers of reported frauds. As a result, both deterrence and retribution are undermined. On the other hand, the fixation on the surgical identification, dissection and rectification of a myriad of micro-situations that can entail a risk of crime causes the government to lose sight of the root causes of crime - biological, psychological, social, cultural, economic and political. After our critical discussion, we will put forwards some recommendations to improve not only COVID-19-related anti-fraud policies and practices but, more generally, the response to fraud and financial crime.

Who Gains from Our Online Lives?

Two books detail how global technology giants vacuum up all the data they can get on consumers, the better to serve them on a platter to digital capitalists and colonizers.

Social Media Thoughtcrimes

As people live out their lives online, there is the ever-increasing question of what is protected expression and what is criminal speech. This article begins to explore this distinction, and advocates for a shift in the way we analyze whether online speech is protected by the First Amendment by suggesting a return to simpler times in First Amendment jurisprudence.

US social fragmentation at multiple scales.

Despite global connectivity, societies seem to be increasingly polarized and fragmented. This phenomenon is rooted in the underlying complex structure and dynamics of social systems. Far from homogeneously mixing or adopting conforming views, individuals self-organize into groups at multiple scales, ranging from families up to cities and cultures. In this paper, we study the fragmented structure of American society using mobility and communication networks obtained from geo-located social media data. We find self-organized patches with clear geographical borders that are consistent between physical and virtual spaces. The patches have multi-scale structure ranging from parts of a city up to the entire nation. Their significance is reflected in distinct patterns of collective interests and conversations. Finally, we explain the patch emergence by a model of network growth that combines mechanisms of geographical distance gravity, preferential attachment and spatial growth. Our observations are consistent with the emergence of social groups whose separated association and communication reinforce distinct identities. Rather than eliminating borders, the virtual space reproduces them as people mirror their offline lives online. Understanding the mechanisms driving the emergence of fragmentation in hyper-connected social systems is imperative in the age of the Internet and globalization.

Jihadi Culture: The Art and Social Practices of Militant Islamists

Jihadi Culture: The Art and Social Practices of Militant Islamists

Expand Intermediary Liability to Protect Reality Itself

It may sound like a bit of a stretch to say that intermediary liability law will shake the foundations of reality. However, consider the nature of what an intermediary is, and what intermediaries do. Currently, the internet intermediaries of the present act as venues and hosts, inter-mediating between people and information. Intermediaries are search engines, social media apps, web hosting providers, and the like. These online intermediaries seem clearly separable from our offline, “real” lives in the physical world. Yet, as our world grows increasingly digitized, it is all but inevitable that human beings will live more of their lives online than offline. In an increasingly online world, in which we interact with each other through an ever increasing number of new intermediaries, the concept of intermediary liability must be re-calibrated to adapt to new technologies. New intermediaries will include the engines for virtual and augmented reality (VR/AR) environments, as well as smart cities and Internet of Things (IoT) environments. Intermediary liability doctrine should expand to include these new technological intermediaries.

Taking a break: The effect of taking a vacation from Facebook and Instagram on subjective well-being.

Social Networking Sites (SNS) such as Facebook and Instagram have relocated a large portion of people’s social lives online, but can be intrusive and create social disturbances. Many people therefore consider taking an “SNS vacation.” We investigated the effects of a one-week vacation from both Facebook and Instagram on subjective well-being, and whether this would vary for passive or active SNS users. Usage amount was measured objectively, using RescueTime software, to circumvent issues of self-report. Usage style was identified at pre-test, and SNS users with a more active or more passive usage style were assigned in equal numbers to the conditions of one-week SNS vacation (n = 40) or no SNS vacation (n = 38). Subjective well-being (life satisfaction, positive affect, and negative affect) was measured before and after the vacation period. At pre-test, more active SNS use was found to correlate positively with life satisfaction and positive affect, whereas more passive SNS use correlated positively with life satisfaction, but not positive affect. Surprisingly, at post-test the SNS vacation resulted in lower positive affect for active users and had no significant effects for passive users. This result is contrary to popular expectation, and indicates that SNS usage can be beneficial for active users. We suggest that SNS users should be educated in the benefits of an active usage style and that future research should consider the possibility of SNS addiction among more active users.

Collaborative Authorship in a Network Society

This essay identifies shared commonalities underlying the organizational structures of successful online collaborative creation. Online collaborative cation involves individual Internet users and communities that work together to generate and produce works online by contributing to, creating, and reusing and modifying each other’s works. Successful online collaborations have produced a variety of socially-valuable works, including viral Internet urban legends, open software, and knowledge repositories. These collaborative works not only serve important roles in the growth and development of public knowledge, but they also contribute to cultural growth and creativity. The commonalities that successful online collaboration share are: (1) fair and equal access to the Internet; (2) modularity and granularity of each individual’s contributions; (3) pseudonymity of contributors; (4) online community norms and policing; and (5) lack of exclusive ownership of online creations. This essay explains how each of these contributed to the successes of various online collaborative creative projects. As we begin to live more of our lives online, we tend to form more connections online and join online communities based on similar politics, professions, or interests. Many of these online communities have the ability to collaborate and create valuable works of authorship. Understanding the organizational structures that foster online collaboration allows us to recreate structures that encourage online collaboration. More importantly, it helps guide us in examining or reexamining our legal systems in order to optimize rules and regulations that promote rather than impede online collaborative creation.

Practice examples: Empowering children to take control of their online lives

Children and Young People NowVol. 2019, No. 3 Special ReportPractice examples: Empowering children to take control of their online livesNina JacobsNina JacobsSearch for more papers by this authorNina JacobsPublished Online:1 Jul 2019https://doi.org/10.12968/cypn.2019.3.35AboutSectionsView articleView Full TextPDF/EPUB ToolsAdd to favoritesDownload CitationsTrack Citations ShareShare onFacebookTwitterLinked InEmail View article FiguresReferencesRelatedDetails 2 March 2019Volume 2019Issue 3ISSN (print): 1755-8093ISSN (online): 2515-7582 Metrics History Published online 1 July 2019 Published in print 2 March 2019 Information© MA Education LimitedPDF download

Veldwerk op je iPad: de meerwaarde van online onderzoek

Digital fieldwork: the benefit of online research It is important to consider social media as a serious and useful source for anthropological research. The use of online resources offers practical advantages, such as the ease with which data can be collected and stored, and the fact that the researcher can enter the online lives of respondents anonymously and unseen. Because performances on social media give particular insight into how users want to be seen, the question arises as to the extent to which we should consider these statements as a serious source of research. However, knowledge of the fact that users want to profile themselves in a certain way is valuable in itself. The fact that the virtual ‘street’ has become a reality in itself even makes online research indispensable.

Ethical Dilemmas on Data Privacy and Security for Social Media’s Users

In the era of digital transformation, social media is the rising revolution in Journalism & Mass Communication Industry. In 21st century, social media like Facebook, You Tube, Twitter and Instagram are the most popular platforms among the people of all generations. While using these applications, security and privacy are the prime concerns that have to be considered. There are so many privacy and security issues or challenges for Social Media’s users. Facebook is not really as private as it claims. In fact, nothing is private on internet. Facebook has some issues for users’ data privacy and security. First issue is that not all photos are private even if you set your profile to be private. Some of your pictures will still appear because individual picture is set to public. Another Issue is that your comments are searchable but many users don’t think that their comments on status and posts can be search but that is wrong because comments are acutely searchable and can appear in Google searches. Profile will appear if you search your name on Google and if you have account on Facebook. Hidden post can still appear even if you hide them from your own timeline. In the recent years, the explosive growth of information technology and internet use to obtain information, goods and services have fueled and there is a debate and controversy about the potential threats to privacy. Personal identifiable information can be used in the numbers of ways that were never imagine or sanctioned by the person who used the social media. 93 % of commercial social media collect at least one of the personal identifications. Less than 10% of social media encompass all five principles: Notice, Choice, Access, Security and Enforcement. One third of sites post no privacy policy. Only a third of surveyed sites guaranteed not to send visitors’ information to third parties. There is no such thing as “delete” anymore –everything lives online forever. The primary business model for most successful online corporations is the mass collection and memorization of your personal data. All the major social networks’ default setting is public. There are many ethical dilemmas arising for the social media’s users like hacking into computersusing pictures without consent and stealing ideas etc. We now have to think about the consequences of our actions in a whole new way. This research paper focuses on ethical challenges or dilemmas for data privacy and security arising with social media.

Writing Life and Death Online: “I’m Not Sure How Many More Days I’ll Have on the Computer”

ABSTRACTThe narrative on digital spaces and online experience is one dominated by youth, from the so-called digital natives first heralded by Prensky to digital entrepreneurs and influencers. However, there has recently been a significant growth in the numbers of older people going online. Often forgotten, “digital settlers”, many of them women, went online when the World Wide Web came to life in the 1990s, creating communities and networks of affinity, writing online journals and weblogs. They have stayed ever since, sometimes at the heart of digital spaces, sometimes hidden in the fringes. One of these spaces was home to a community of older women; from 1997 to 2012 we wrote our lives online, in daily conversations and stories. In this autoethnographical paper, through a multivoiced narrative, I explore concepts of death and mourning online and offline, and I celebrate my mentors in ageing. I draw on literary theory to relate these themes to time and space online through the concept of the Bakhtinian chronotope.

Lives on the Line: The Online Lives of Girls and Women With and Without a Lifetime Eating Disorder Diagnosis.

This study aimed to compare the scope, internet use patterns, and degree of online need satisfaction of girls and women with and without a lifetime eating disorder (ED) diagnosis. Participants were 122 females aged 12–30, 53 with a lifetime ED diagnosis recruited via a hospital-based treatment program, and 69 age-matched controls recruited via normative social media sites. Participants completed questionnaires assessing disordered eating, body image, positive and negative affect, general distress, and life satisfaction, and completed an online survey about the scope of their internet use, the frequency of watching and posting pictures and videos, online friendships and social comparison, fulfillment of needs online, and mood after internet use. All questionnaire scores differed significantly between groups in the expected directions. Whereas overall, ED and control groups spent similar amounts of time online (6.21, SD = 5.13), they spent this time differently. ED participants reported devoting 56.7% of their online time to eating, weight and body image, versus 29.1% for controls, and spent significantly more time than controls on forums and blogs (t = -5.3, p < 0.0001, Cohen’s d = 0.87). They also engaged more often in social comparison (t = 3.6, p < 0.005, Cohen’s d = 0.65), had a higher online–offline friend ratio (t = 3.7, p < 0.0001, Cohen’s d = 0.65), and more online friends with ED (t = 5.4, p < 0.0001, Cohen’s d = 0.89). In comparison to controls, ED participants reported that their use of forums and blogs gave them more eating- and weight-related advice, and a greater sense of belonging, social support, and safety resulting from anonymity, with effect sizes of 0.63–0.96. However, they also reported more negative affect after posting online. Most online behaviors and patterns correlated positively with measures of symptomatology and negatively with measures of psychological health, in both groups. Internet use was rarely addressed in therapy. Professionals, families and friends should help people with disordered eating and EDs to broaden the scope of their internet use. They should invest less in food- and weight-related forums/blogs, expand their “real life” social lives and develop their interpersonal skills, so that their legitimate needs can be satisfied face-to-face, rather than virtually. Clinicians should address the online lives of their ED clients in therapy.

The End of Privacy? Paradoxes and Dilemmas of Internet Use and Online Surveillance

With the Internet growing in importance in our daily lives, concerns about privacy and data protection have emerged. While people worry about where they data may end up, they continue making themselves openly transparent by sharing information about themselves and their lives online. This study aims to understand the paradoxes between privacy considerations – mainly, the wish to keep individual data private and secure – and the actions that people undertake in reality. More specifically, it focuses on three paradoxes and dilemmas of privacy: age, perceived usefulness, and rewards. These will be studied by analyzing the results of a survey, in which respondents from the EU, North America and East Asia were asked about their online habits and their opinions on various security issues and privacy measures. The analysis ultimately aims to further the understanding of privacy paradoxes, and what hinders people from protecting their data sufficiently.

Spiritual Care in a Social Media Landscape.

Given that social media extends both connection and suffering that occurs in physical spaces into digital spaces, issues of connection and suffering are increasingly integrated across people's online and in-person lives. Spiritual care in a new media landscape necessitates spiritual care practitioners who are invested in listening to, exploring, and ministering to people's social media experiences, both their joys and their laments.

Cybersecurity needs women.

Safeguarding our lives online requires skills and experiences that lie beyond masculine stereotypes of the hacker and soldier, says Winifred R. Poster. Safeguarding our lives online requires skills and experiences that lie beyond masculine stereotypes of the hacker and soldier, says Winifred R. Poster.

The Editor’s Note

What should educators understand about the online lives of today’s young people? It may be tempting to argue that digital natives are entirely different from previous generations, notes Kappan’s editor, but the evidence suggests otherwise. Computers and mobile devices have had some powerful influences on the ways in which children live their lives, but let’s not exaggerate the extent to which childhood itself has changed.

“Being a butt while on the internet”: Perceptions of what is and isn't internet trolling

ABSTRACTThe term “internet trolling” has come to encompass a wide range of behaviours, ranging from abusive speech and hacking to sarcastic humour and friendly teasing. While some of these behaviours are clearly antisocial and, in extreme cases, criminal, others are harmless and may even have potential prosocial functions. This study is an attempt to disambiguate some of the competing and contrary interpretations of internet trolling by examining the perspectives of avid internet users for whom trolling is a familiar part of their online lives. Through data collected from in‐depth, semi‐structured interviews, a multifaceted picture of trolling emerges that is at odds with previous media characterizations of internet trolls as merely hateful bullies. On the contrary, most participants in this study did not consider trolling to be a serious problem and many did not consider harmful interactions to be trolling at all. This paper describes some of the defining characteristics of internet trolling in order to differentiate the harmful behaviours from the harmless. This work aims to contribute to the growing body of literature on internet trolling in the hopes of informing regulatory policy and educational initiatives concerning internet use and safety.

Mining Mobile Internet Lifestyles in Distinct Urban Areas: Tales of Two Cities

The information and communication technology industry has developed rapidly, and data are an important link between society and the Internet. The study of the regional usage features of mobile Internet users provides a guide for network supervision and service distribution. In this paper, we propose an approach to identify the typical mobile Internet patterns to account for the content of the user’s Internet access, which is used to discover the online lifestyle of people living in cities of different sizes. We believe that the user Internet behavior is a weighted sum of many typical underlying features. Therefore, a single usage content tensor is constructed to record the sequence of content that the people access on the Internet. The mobile Internet lifestyles based on user context access content were obtained by comparing the composition of a user’s typical online behavior under regional conditions. The method is applied to the case of two representative cities of different sizes in mainland China. We have extracted key features for the mobile Internet context for a large number of users in each city from the usage detail records obtained from cellular networks. This approach uncovers interesting features of human behavior on the mobile Internet at fine granularity, some of which allow us to quantitatively compare the online lives of people living in areas with different urban compositions. The identified regional typical user lifestyle can be used to guide urban planning, network supervision, service resource allocation, and urban dynamics analysis.

Theorizing the lesbian hashtag: Identity, community, and the technological imperative to name the sexual self

ABSTRACTThis analysis integrates poststructuralist and symbolic interactionist approaches to the self by incorporating the insights of science and technology studies regarding categorization processes. While the advent of the Internet has freed many individuals from geographical constraints on community formation, the architectures of online platforms produce a technological imperative to name aspects of the self with words. Using sexual identity hashtags on Instagram (e.g., #lesbian) thus performs paradoxical functions: the hashtag both enables the construction of a sexual identity within an affirming community and also reinforces the power relations that compel individuals to name and account for their sexual selves. By illustrating one way sexual identities function in the online lives of young women, this research complicates other scholars' findings that the salience of sexual identity categories is decreasing.