Digilantism: An Analysis of Crowdsourcing and the Boston Marathon Bombings

Nhan, Johnny; Huey, Laura; Broll, Ryan

doi:10.1093/bjc/azv118

Cited by 58 publications

(80 citation statements)

References 14 publications

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“…Perhaps the most striking example of this was the crowd‐sourced investigation into the Boston Marathon Bombing. Despite the failure of the crowd‐sourced investigation to identify the perpetrator, in the words of one researcher: the “genie is out of the bottle” (Nhan et al, , p. 2). Increasingly, it seems, private citizens with capital, measured by skill, insight, or some other resource lacking in official agencies, are looking to contribute to solving security problems.…”

Section: Informal Counter Messaging—why Does Everything Have To Be a mentioning

confidence: 99%

Countering Violent Extremism Online: The Experiences of Informal Counter Messaging Actors

Lee¹

2019

Policy & Internet

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The online space is a haven for extremists of all kinds. Although efforts to remove violent and extremist content are increasing, there is a widely accepted need to also contest extremist messages with counter messages designed to undermine and disrupt extremist narratives. While the majority of academic focus has been on large and well‐funded efforts linked to governments, this article considers the experiences of informal actors who are active in contesting extremist messaging but who lack the support of large institutions. Informal actors come without some of the baggage that accompanies formal counter message campaigns, which have been attacked as lacking in credibility and constituting “just more government propaganda.” This has been noted by some of the wider countering violent extremism industry and the appetite for incorporating “real‐world” content in their campaigns seems to be rising. This article fills a gap in our knowledge of the experiences of informal counter messaging actors. Through a series of in‐depth qualitative interviews it demonstrates that, despite the potentially serious risks of incorporating greater levels of informal content, there is an appetite among informal actors to engage with formal campaigns where they can be selective over who they work with and maintain a degree of control.

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Section: Informal Counter Messaging—why Does Everything Have To Be a mentioning

confidence: 99%

Countering Violent Extremism Online: The Experiences of Informal Counter Messaging Actors

Lee¹

2019

Policy & Internet

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“…For example, how might a crowdsourcing criminology approach help victims in missing person cases as well as their family and friends who may be searching for them? use terms such as cyber-vigilantism (Smallridge et al, 2016), digilantism (Jane, 2017;Nhan et al, 2017), digital activism (Bennett, 2012), digital criminology (Powell et al, 2018), viral justice (Wood, Rose, & Thompson, 2019b), and websleuthing (Yardley et al, 2018). These particular ways of engaging networked involvement in crime-solving practices all provide a different lens and a contribution to the model of crowdsourcing criminology.…”

Section: Crowdsourcing: From a Business Idea To Way Of Doing Criminologymentioning

confidence: 99%

Crowdsourcing Criminology: Social Media and Citizen Policing in Missing Person Cases

Gray

Benning

2019

SAGE Open

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Criminology is undergoing a process of innovation and experimentation with the rise of social media. Although police have traditionally been the locus of legal enforcement, ordinary citizens are increasingly afforded opportunities to participate in crowdsourced investigations. In this article, we explore the emerging field of crowdsourcing criminology and its relationship to newsmaking criminology, public criminology, and the reshaping of news as infotainment (popular criminology). Drawing on a case study of a missing person named Emma Fillipoff, and our experience of involvement in the development of a television (TV) documentary dedicated to help finding Emma, we examine the process of crowdsourcing in practice and how it may oscillate between infotainment and public criminology inspired by academic evidence. Crowdsourcing criminology represents both a theoretical and an applied shift in our research focus and paves the way for a host of new projects that strive to reveal the strategies and techniques that define and characterize crowdsourced investigations.

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“…Some researchers have proposed a theoretical framework of nodal governance for the policing of cyberspace that conveys the notion that policing needs to be conducted through the collaborative efforts of plural actors (nodal clusters), including criminal investigators, private industry players, and individual internet users (Huey et al ). And with the rise of internet vigilantism (netilantism) and public‐private cooperation (co‐production) in cybercrime investigation, there is a need for us to understand how private sectors and netizens can help in the co‐production of cybersecurity and the risks that may accompany it (Brenner ; Chang ; Huey et al ; Nhan et al ; Chang & Poon ).…”

Section: Theoretical Settingmentioning

confidence: 99%

“…Nhan et al (), using the Boston marathon bombings as a case study, analyzed how cyber‐crowdsourcing can contribute to the investigation of a terrestrial event and argued that more research needs to be done on the forms and interaction between police and the public.…”

Section: Citizen Responses To Cybercrimementioning

confidence: 99%

“…This sharing will alert more netizens to avoid accessing a link with imbedded malicious code or opening an attachment containing a malicious program. Nhan et al (2015), using the Boston marathon bombings as a case study, analyzed how cyber-crowdsourcing can contribute to the investigation of a terrestrial event and argued that more research needs to be done on the forms and interaction between police and the public.…”

Section: Identification/investigation Of Illegality Occurring Againstmentioning

confidence: 99%

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Citizen co‐production of cyber security: Self‐help, vigilantes, and cybercrime

Chang

Zhong

Grabosky

2016

Regulation & Governance

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Given the limited resources and capabilities of states to maintain cyber security, a variety of co‐production efforts have been made by individuals or by collectives, of varying degrees of organization and coordination. This article identifies different forms of citizen co‐production of cyber security and notes the risk of unintended consequences. Safeguards and principles are proposed in order to facilitate constructive citizen/netizen co‐production of cyber security. Although co‐production of security can contribute to social control, only those activities within the bounds of the law should be encouraged. Activities of private citizens/netizens that test the limits of legality should be closely circumscribed.

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Digilantism: An Analysis of Crowdsourcing and the Boston Marathon Bombings

Cited by 58 publications

References 14 publications

Countering Violent Extremism Online: The Experiences of Informal Counter Messaging Actors

Countering Violent Extremism Online: The Experiences of Informal Counter Messaging Actors

Crowdsourcing Criminology: Social Media and Citizen Policing in Missing Person Cases

Citizen co‐production of cyber security: Self‐help, vigilantes, and cybercrime

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