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Ethical approaches to studying cybercrime: considerations, practice and experience in the United Kingdom

Ethical approaches to studying cybercrime: considerations, practice and experience in the United Kingdom
Ethical approaches to studying cybercrime: considerations, practice and experience in the United Kingdom
Traditional normative ethics focuses on doing what is right as agreed by the community at large. For society as a whole, this is likely the protection of property and the safety of individuals, making the criminal a justifiable target of law enforcement and research. For criminals themselves, loyalty to fellow criminals may take precedence instead. Similarly, as research ethics introduces
imperatives such as ensuring the rights and expectations of research participants are respected, informed consent and anonymity, it is unclear where these rights apply. A criminal in a research study is unlikely to give consent but expects anonymity. Yet have they intentionally waived such rights by committing crimes? In this chapter, we explore the ethical challenges related
to research into cybercrime in the United Kingdom and how this relates to normative approaches, including a critical evaluation of guidance from British social science professional associations. We conclude with a set of recommendations to researchers of cybercrime.
Research ethics, Normative expectations, Online context, Informed consent, Privacy
347-369
Palgrave Macmillan
Pickering, Brian
225088d0-729e-4f17-afe2-1ad1193ccae6
Roth, Silke
cd4e63d8-bd84-45c1-b317-5850d2a362b6
Webber, Craig
35851bbe-83e6-4c9b-9dd2-cdf1f60c245d
Lavorgna, Anita
Holt, Thomas J.
Pickering, Brian
225088d0-729e-4f17-afe2-1ad1193ccae6
Roth, Silke
cd4e63d8-bd84-45c1-b317-5850d2a362b6
Webber, Craig
35851bbe-83e6-4c9b-9dd2-cdf1f60c245d
Lavorgna, Anita
Holt, Thomas J.

Pickering, Brian, Roth, Silke and Webber, Craig (2021) Ethical approaches to studying cybercrime: considerations, practice and experience in the United Kingdom. In, Lavorgna, Anita and Holt, Thomas J. (eds.) Researching Cybercrimes: Methodologies, Ethics, and Critical Approaches. Palgrave Macmillan, pp. 347-369. (doi:10.1007/978-3-030-74837-1).

Record type: Book Section

Abstract

Traditional normative ethics focuses on doing what is right as agreed by the community at large. For society as a whole, this is likely the protection of property and the safety of individuals, making the criminal a justifiable target of law enforcement and research. For criminals themselves, loyalty to fellow criminals may take precedence instead. Similarly, as research ethics introduces
imperatives such as ensuring the rights and expectations of research participants are respected, informed consent and anonymity, it is unclear where these rights apply. A criminal in a research study is unlikely to give consent but expects anonymity. Yet have they intentionally waived such rights by committing crimes? In this chapter, we explore the ethical challenges related
to research into cybercrime in the United Kingdom and how this relates to normative approaches, including a critical evaluation of guidance from British social science professional associations. We conclude with a set of recommendations to researchers of cybercrime.

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Accepted/In Press date: 4 June 2021
Published date: 3 September 2021
Keywords: Research ethics, Normative expectations, Online context, Informed consent, Privacy

Identifiers

Local EPrints ID: 450411
URI: http://eprints.soton.ac.uk/id/eprint/450411
PURE UUID: 7ba89e96-0600-426f-b103-b0ede9fb0d62
ORCID for Brian Pickering: ORCID iD orcid.org/0000-0002-6815-2938
ORCID for Silke Roth: ORCID iD orcid.org/0000-0002-8760-0505
ORCID for Craig Webber: ORCID iD orcid.org/0000-0003-3900-7579

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Date deposited: 27 Jul 2021 17:24
Last modified: 17 Mar 2024 03:23

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Contributors

Author: Brian Pickering ORCID iD
Author: Silke Roth ORCID iD
Author: Craig Webber ORCID iD
Editor: Anita Lavorgna
Editor: Thomas J. Holt

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