Moylan, Sarah --- "Book Review - Dot.cons: Crime, Deviance and Identity on the Internet" [2002] JlLawInfoSci 10; (2002) 13(1) Journal of Law, Information and Science 136

• Dot.cons: Crime, Deviance and Identity on the Internet

Dot.cons: Crime, Deviance and Identity on the Internet

Yvonne Jewkes (ED)

Willan Publishing, Devon, (2003) ISBN 1 84392 001 8

200 pgs, GBP 45

Dot.cons is an engaging and thought provoking collection of essays that go to the very heart of the ways in which the Internet has altered our lives. The snappy title is potentially misleading in that the ten essays making up the book are concerned with more than ‘cons’, crime or even deviance. The unifying theme of the work is akin to Sherry Turkle’s classic Life on the Screen – the nature and construction of identity and the disembodied self on the Internet. Important sub-themes include sexism and gender, and sexuality.

In a nuanced and dynamic introductory chapter, editor Yvonne Jewkes and co-author Keith Sharp discuss some of the most intriguing aspects of computer-mediated communications, and explain their goal of providing a text on these issues that is primarily people centred rather than primarily technical or legalistic. According to the publishers:

This is a book not about computers, nor about legal controversies over the regulation of cyberspace, but about people and the new patterns of human identity, behaviour and association that are emerging as a result of the communications revolution.

The basic premise is that old net adage ‘on the Internet nobody knows you’re a dog’ - although the disembodiment and anonymity of the Internet make it, in the authors’ words, ‘an exciting place to study, research, relax and play’, they also make the net a magnet to criminals and deviants.

Subsequent chapters address:

• issues of policing and surveillance in cyberspace

• prostitution on the Internet

• buying brides and babies online

• identity theft

• cyberstalking

• gender and the social construction of hacking

• digital counter-cultures, and

• ethical issues in research in chat rooms.

Several of the most intriguing chapters discuss the contested nature of deviance and question whether the Internet normalises deviant behaviour. For example, the authors of ‘Chapter 3: Cyberpunters and cyberwhores: prostitution on the Internet’ argue that the net is having a transformative impact on the world’s oldest profession. As well as describing the way the net is transforming social relationships in prostitution, the essay examines the emergence of an online ‘punter’ community – men who pay for sex. The chapter contains some provocative arguments about the possible ramifications of these developments.

In Chapter 4, Heather DiMarco uses the metaphor of the ‘electronic cloak’ in considering the behaviour of ostensibly heterosexual women who visit lesbian chat rooms to explore their sexual identities. In this analysis chat rooms do more than provide a safe space for sexual experimentation – they allow for education, discovery and personal development and empowerment.

For readers primarily interested in legal issues and analysis, only Chapter 7 on cyberstalking contains any detailed discussion of relevant legislation. This chapter takes an international perspective and provides a comparative analysis of laws in Australia, Canada, the UK and the USA.

Rounding out the collection is Chapter 10, which considers ethical and practical issues arising out of online research in chat rooms. The essay proposes a set of ethical guidelines for conducting chat room research in a safe and responsible manner and does at least flag many of the problems or dilemmas that may arise. However, the treatment is somewhat superficial and does not delve deeply into the tensions that exist between seeking to academically describe and analyse an online community, thereby potentially objectifying and exploiting its members, and ‘going native’ on the other. The point is well made though that virtual society differs in so many significant respects from the ‘real’ world that conventional methodological and ethical approaches may prove to be not just unwieldy in cyberspace but inappropriate or even downright harmful.

Although many of these essays deal with the dark side of the Internet, they are not sensationalist or gratuitous. The overall tone is one of reasoned calm rather than moral panic. The multidisciplinary nature of the text, much of which combines sociological, criminological and cultural studies perspectives is another great strength.

The 10 well chosen chapters cover a broad range of issues in some theoretical depth, although none of the individual chapters are overly long or complex. This highly accessible style and format makes Dot.cons a suitable textbook selection for many undergraduate courses concerned with information society or cyberculture. Although the editor and overwhelming majority of contributing authors are academics from British universities, the work has, in the main, an international focus. A small number of chapters cite only British examples and legislation. Nevertheless, the text is quite appropriate for use in other jurisdictions, particularly Australia and North America.

Reviewed by Sarah Moylan, Research Student, Law School, University of Tasmania