What is the Common Language of Cybercrime Materials?

• In Event: Critical Criminology and Cybercrime

Abstract

The rise of graphical user interfaces has driven a hypermediated cyberspace that relies on striking imagery – whether through user content, memes, infographics or any other format – to draw interaction and attention. These same principles impact the visuality of texts (e.g. Mirzoeff, 2006; Andersen et al., 2014) which are themselves intended to draw targeted users into discourse. The ‘language’ of these texts can impart ‘social facts’ that are born of simulacra with little or no grounding. To this end, Wall (2008) illustrated the connections between social science fiction/faction and a glitzed up spectre of the cybercriminal, leading to a culture of fear that permeated justice policy. This paper proposes that criminological studies of cybercrime, and specifically the texts created by the field, continue this culture of fear by depicting cybercriminals through an ambiguous lens, starting with covers of leading textbooks. Our research attempts a qualitative textual analysis of the titles and imagery associated with textbooks published by a sample of leading authors in the field, demonstrating the persistent use of tropes to impart an enigmatic cybercriminal form.

Author

• James Popham, Wilfrid Laurier University