A Safe Haven for Misbehaving?

Abstract

Although considerable academic interest has focused on serious cyber-crimes, more commonplace Internet misuses (e.g., misrepresentation of self, unauthorized downloading, Internet pornography, online plagiarism, and other "cyber-cheating") have received less attention. Although these transgressions are of minor legal importance, they merit closer academic scrutiny. Based on a self-report study of 1,222 U.K. undergraduate students, this article explores the prevalence, nature, and underpinning facilitators of five examples of Internetbased misbehavior. Although more than 90% of respondents self-reported online misbehavior during the past 12 months, significant differences are evident in gender, Internet expertise, and, to a lesser extent, age. Although respondents portrayed the Internet as a more conducive environment for misbehavior, the survey data report a strong correlation between respondents' propensity to misbehave in online and offline contexts. These data highlight the need to contextualize cyber-deviance in relation to the offline "life world" of the Internet user and the Internet's wider role in everyday life.

Creation and Use of Intellectual Works in the Academic Environment: Students' Knowledge About Copyright and Copyleft

“…Even more alarming was the response to the next question, compounded by the condition that this activity of using large portions of the works of others was done on the Internet. Apparently the notion prevails that the law does not necessarily apply when it comes to Internet contents (Selwyn, 2008), as the number of students responding correctly, that such use is illegal, is an embarrassing 28%. The de facto access to vast amounts of information on the Web continues to confuse students, who still believe that if a document can be obtained online, there are no limitations or restrictions regarding its use.…”

Growing a cyber-safety culture amongst school learners in South Africa through gaming

“…The normalisation of the internet has been accompanied by a set of more critical discourses concerning the potential abuse of technology, particularly because of some users' propensity for non-conformist, unethical or deviant behaviour while online (Selwyn, 2008). The internet has paved the way for many new forms of irregular behaviour (Freestone & Mitchell, 2004), such as dishonest, disruptive or deviant online activities and actions.…”

“…These irregular behaviours can be classified under cyber crime and cyber misbehaviour (Selwyn, 2008). School learners are at risk if they do not understand the dangers of their own cyber activities (S. von Solms & von Solms, 2014).…”

Deviance in the Internet Use in Working Environment: Key Factors and Remedies based on an Exploratory Study

“…The definitions of Internet addiction and factors that influence the phenomenon were developed further based on studies carried out in the USA, China, the UK, South Africa, Taiwan and Australia (Li, 2014;Jiang, 2014). Most of these study findings were derived from samples with student population at universities or high schools (Selwyn, 2008), but academic staff was included as well (Chang, 2008). The employee's population regarding Internet abuse is seldom studied in the literature.…”