Cybercrime: Key Issues and Debates

Oxon and New York: Routledge, 2015, viii+308 pp. Pb $63.95
ISBN: 978-0-415-71220-0
By Alisdair A. Gillespie

Review by
el-Sayed el-Aswad
United Arab Emirates University
[email protected]

For over three decades there have been extensive scholarly researches addressing the
rapidly growing global phenomenon of cybercrime and its related threats. This
book, composed of eleven chapters divided into four parts, tackles multiple issues
pertaining to various aspects of the problem of cybercrime. The author makes it
clear that the study concentrates not on computer crime, but rather on cybercrime or
crimes committed on, or facilitated by, the internet. Gillespie discusses in depth and
in detail terminologies related to the theme being studied including hacktivism, cy-
berwarfare, malware, virtual fraud, online piracy, virtual property, online hate
speech, cyber-harassment, cyber-bullying, and cyberstalking among others. The de-
scription of the various dimensions of cybercrime being addressed is nuanced, sig-
nificantly up to date, and supported by relevant citations and references.
The study proposes that there are several kinds of cybercrime encompassing mali-
cious activities targeting technology, such as hacking and malware. Hacking, for ex-
ample, is the action of obtaining illegal access to computers, mobile phones, servers
or websites attacking individuals, companies, organizations or government bodies.
The majority of hackers are young males. Malware is software that targets comput-
ers for malevolent purposes such as using viruses, worms and Trojans. Although
anti-virus software is used for fighting such illegal behavior, cybercrime remains a
global threat. Another type of cybercrime includes offences relating to data or the
attacks on the integrity of data that are conducted in various ways, including the de-

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struction of data, the inappropriate access to data, the interception of data, and the
unlawful disclosure of data.
This book examines the concepts of cyberterrorism and cyberwarfare raising issues
about such matters that exist in cyberspace. The author discusses what he calls hack-
tivism, or what etymologically indicates a combination of ‘hacking’ and ‘activism’.
Hacktivism, the author argues, involves activities similar to traditional civil rights
movements but replicated in cyberspace and includes four behaviors: virtual sit-ins,
email bombs, website defacement and malware. Cyberterrorism, a combination of
‘cybersapce’ and ‘terrorism’ refers to the act of terrorism that is performed either in,
or through, the internet. This aggressive cyber activity is directed toward the state
rather than individual corporations. Cyberterrorism is seen as an attack against state
interests though private industry may also be targeted. There is a continuum of be-
havior from hacktivism through cyberterrorism to cyberwarfare.
If hacktivism is at one end of a continuum then cyberwarfare is at the other end.
This becomes less about law and more about war involving states rather than indi-
viduals. The book, however, does not provide a comprehensive analysis of the
meaning of cyberwar. The author limits the analysis to a state or country acting as
the aggressor. He provides an example of Stuxnet, a form of cyberwarfare in which
malware led to the physical damage of the Iranian nuclear enrichment program by
causing the computer controlling the centrifuges to run beyond their capacity or tol-
erance level. It is not easy to accuse a country of committing cyberwar since there
would be denial of such malevolent action. For instance, the US and Israel was un-
der suspicion of applying Stuxnet, but this has never been proven. International law
recognizes the right of a state to control the cyber-activities on its territories and cy-
ber-infrastructure located within its territories. The same is claimed of the internet.
Governments are spending considerable resources developing national plans for cy-
ber-security, including classifying them as a national security issue. However, there
is no international instrument that currently discusses cyberwarfare and instead ref-
erences are made to ordinary rules of international law.
Gillespie also focuses on the most common types of cyber-fraud, such as auction
fraud, pishing, romance fraud, and the Nigerian advanced fee scam or 419. Exam-
ples include persons pretending to be officials who need assistance to transfer
money that they claim is theirs out of a country to avoid a corrupt official. Another
example is pharming, indicating a website diverted to a rascal site. In addition, the
book tackles virtual property which exists only within the context of an online envi-
ronment including computer games and virtual environment. A person is guilty of
theft if he dishonestly appropriates property belonging to another with the intention
of permanently depriving the other from it.
Under the English law there are four types of intellectual property: patents, copy-
right, registered designs, and trademarks. The issue of most relevance to the theme
of this book concerns copyright. Digital technologies have completely transformed
the manner in which copyrighted material is being traded. However, the author con-
siders the violation of copyright as piracy not theft.
The book further addresses issues of ‘harm’ and ‘hate-speech’. The latter is a form
of hateful expression whereby people are targeted and bullied on the basis of their
race, color, sexuality, religion or other physical characteristics. “Self-harm” websites
are those that encourage the actions of individuals to cause harm to themselves and
include suicide, self-injury and eating disorder websites. Both hate speech and harm
site are linked by the fact that they relate to content and not physical contact.

   
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In dealing with the problem of adult pornography, the author contends that the
analysis is restricted to the UK since there is no international instrument that has
sought to regulate adult pornography. Regarding child pornography, the author in-
dicates that the most common form of child pornography is photograph-based mate-
rial which is most damaging in terms of the effects it has on the victims. The author,
however, discusses the issue of the law pertaining to the problem of child pornogra-
phy before defining the actual problem.
The book discusses two forms of personal offences against individuals on the inter-
net: cyberstalking and sexual actions. Further differentiation defines cyber-
harassment as a form of cyberstalking where the victim is adult, while with cyber-
bullying the victim is a child. Cyber-harassment and cyber-bullying refer to indi-
vidualized behavior where someone deliberately acts in an aggressive or hostile
manner with the intent of intimidating a victim.
Though legal solutions to the problems of cybercrime and the scope of legislative
and case law analysis are limited and focused mainly on the law in the United King-
dom, the book addresses jurisdictional dimensions of cybercrime in international
law and takes into account the Council of Europe’s Convention on Cybercrime.
The book provides extensive information about cybercrime, but it is deficient in
theoretical orientations. Further, the manuscript relies heavily on speculative and
qualitative analysis, but it lacks quantitative/statistical data analysis particularly in
discussing different types of cybercrime. The book would have been more coherent
if the author had provided a conclusion for the book as well as a conclusion for each
chapter. The book suffers from extensive and detailed definitions of terms in such a
way that that the reader gets distracted from the main points being addressed.
Overall, however, the book is a welcome contribution to the scholarship of crimi-
nology, law, media, cyber-communication, public policy and sociology.