Why Monitor Violent Websites? A Justification

Abstract

The authors argue that the international community should continue working together to devise rules for monitoring specific Internet sites, as human lives are at stake. Preemptive measures could prevent the translation of murderous thoughts into murderous actions. Designated monitoring mechanisms for certain websites that promote violence and seek adherents for the actualization of murderous thoughts could potentially prevent such unfortunate events. Our intention is to draw the attention of the international community’s multi-agents (law-enforcement agencies, governments, the business sector, including Internet Service Providers, websites administrators and owners, civil society groups) to the urgent need of developing monitoring schemes for certain websites, in order to prevent violent crimes.

Share and Cite:

R. Cohen-Almagor and S. Haleva-Amir, "Why Monitor Violent Websites? A Justification," Beijing Law Review, Vol. 3 No. 2, 2012, pp. 64-71. doi: 10.4236/blr.2012.32009.

Conflicts of Interest

The authors declare no conflicts of interest.

References

[1] V. Bush, “As We May Think,” The Atlantic Monthly, Vol. 176, No. 1, 1945, pp. 101-108. http://www.theatlantic.com/doc/194507/bush.
[2] J. C. R. Licklider, “Man-Computer Symbiosis,” IRE Transactions on Human Factors in Electronics, Vol. HFE-1, 1960, pp. 4-11. http://groups.csail.mit.edu/medg/people/psz/Licklider.html.
[3] D. C. Engelbart, “Augmenting Human Intellect: A Conceptual Framework,” Summary Report, AFOSR-3223, Stanford Research Institute, Menlo Park, 1962. http://bootstrap.org/augdocs/friedewald030402/augmentinghumanintellect/AHI62.pdf.
[4] V. G. Cerf, “First, Do No Harm,” Philosophy & Technology, Vol. 24, No. 4, 2011, pp. 463-465. http://www.ibiblio.org/pioneers/cerf.html
[5] J. C. R. Licklider and R. W. Taylor, “The Computer As a Communication Device,” Science and Technology, Vol. 76, 1968, pp. 21-38.
[6] L. Kleinrock, “Information Flow in Large Communication Nets,” Ph.D. Thesis, Massachu-Setts Institute of Technology, Cambridge, 1961. http://www.lk.cs.ucla.edu/LK/Bib/REPORT/PhD/
[7] P. Baran, “On Distributed Communications Networks,” IEEE Transactions on Communication Systems, Vol. 12 No. 1, 1964, pp. 1-9. http://www.ibiblio.org/pioneers/
[8] R. Cohen-Almagor, “Internet History,” International Jour- nal of Technoethics, Vol. 2, No. 2, 2011, pp. 45-64. doi:10.4018/jte.2011040104
[9] S. Cohen, “Folk Devils and Moral Panics,” Routledge, London, 1987, p. 9.
[10] C. Critcher, “Moral Panics and the Media: Issues in Cul- tural and Media Studies,” Open University Press, Buck- ingham, 2003.
[11] C. Krinsky, “Moral Panics over Contemporary Children and Youth,” Ashgate, Aldershot, 2009.
[12] E. Goode and N. Ben-Yehuda, “Moral Panics,” Wiley- Blackwell, Chichester, 2009.
[13] “Moral Panic”. http://www.mediaknowall.com/violence/moralpanicnotes.html
[14] S. Livingstone and M. Bober, “UK Children Go Online: Final Report of Key Project Findings,” Economic and Social Research Council, London, 2005. http://www.lse.ac.uk/collections/children-go-online/UKCGO_Final_report.pdf
[15] Council of Europe, “Convention on Cybercrime,” 2008. http://cis-sacp.government.bg/sacp/CIS/content_en/law/item06.htm
[16] US Department of Justice, “Computer Crimes and Intellectual Property Section: International Aspects of Computer Crime”. http://www.cybercrime.gov/intl.html#Vb1
[17] J. Wong, “Get Under the Desk,” Globe and Mail, 16 September 2006, p. A8-9.
[18] D. Renaud, “Gunman Showed No Pity to Girl,” Toronto Sun, 15 September 2006, p. A3.
[19] T. T. Ha, I. Peritz and A. Picard, “Shooter Had Brief Military Service,” Globe and Mail, 16 September 2006, p. A9.
[20] Encyclopedia, “Anastasia Rebecca de Sousa.” 2006. http://www.statemaster.com/encyclopedia/Anastasia-Rebecca-de-Sousa/
[21] A. Picard, “Gunman Shot Student Again and Again,” Globe and Mail, 15 September 2006, p. A8.
[22] J. Ajit, “Raging, Alienated, Gill Was a Walking Time Bomb,” India Abroad, 22 September 2006, p. A1.
[23] N. Pona, “Net Violence Unchecked,” Toronto Sun, 15 September 2006, p. 4.
[24] C. Gibson, “A Closer Look; A Mind of a Killer,” ABC News Transcripts, 14 September 2006.
[25] T. Harris, H. Collins, B. Starr, A. Chernoff, R. Kaye, A. Koppel, D. Sieberg, S. Gupta, A. Cooper, K. Arena and H. Gorani, “Rounding Up the Enemy; Lone Gunman Opens Fire on Students in Montreal,” CNN, 14 September 2006.
[26] “Profile Posted by Kimveer Gill,” National Post, 15 September 2006, p. A4.
[27] P. Gombu, “Web Diary, Photos Reveal Angry Man Who Loved Guns and Hated People,” Toronto Star, 14 September 2006, p. A1.
[28] P. Couvrette, “Rampage Shooter an Angry Loner,” Pittsburgh Post-Gazette, 15 September 2006, p. A4.
[29] Toronto Sun, 15 September 2006, p. A4.
[30] “Montreal Shooting—The Blog: Excerpts ‘I Hate This World…I Hate So Much’,” National Post, 15 September 2006, p. A4.
[31] P. Couvrette, “College Gunman Liked Columbine Role-Play,” Sun-Sentinel, 15 September 2006, p. 20A.
[32] “Killer Likened Life to a Video Game,” Globe and Mail, 15 September 2006, p. A9.
[33] S. Montgomery and J. Heinrich, “Acting out His Fantasy: Dawson College Gunman Posted Visions on His Blog of What He Enacted Wednesday,” Edmonton Journal, 15 September 2006, p. A3.
[34] “A Blog of Violence and Death,” Newsday, 15 September 2006, p. A32.
[35] S. Agrell and P. Cherry, “Blogs Reveal a Deteriorating Mind, Police Say,” National Post, 16 September 2006, p. A9.
[36] S. Agrell, “Troubled Kids ‘Gravitating’ to Vampire Site,” National Post, 15 September 2006, p. A6.
[37] M. Mandel, “Out for Blood,” The Toronto Sun, 24 September 2006, p. 5.
[38] M. Philip and C. Alphonso, “The Geeks at the Back on Computers,” Globe and Mail, 15 September 2006, p. A9.
[39] R. Remington and S. Zickefoose, “12-Year-Old Faces Judge in Triple Murder: Boyfriend, 23, also Accused in Deaths of Medicine Hat Family,” Edmonton Journal, 26 April 2006, p. A2.
[40] K. Connor, “T.O.’s Vampires out for Blood,” The Toronto Sun, 6 March 2005, p. 36.
[41] C. Blatchford, “Jonathan Trial Aborted,” 16 February 2005. http://www.theglobeandmail.com/
[42] P. Small, “Teen Found Guilty in Beating Death of Brother,” Tribe.ca, 27 February 2006. http://www.tribemagazine.com/board/showthread.php?t=111821.
[43] M. Mandel, “Match Made in Hell,” Edmonton Sun, September 17, 2006, p. 7.
[44] S. Agrell, “‘Vampire’ Blog Derailed Murder Trial: Boastful Postings Cast Doubt on Credibility of Star Crown Witness,” Ottawa Citizen, 17 February 2005, p. A6.
[45] L. Robertson, “Web Links to Shooting,” CTV Television, 14 September 2006.
[46] P. Fong, “Girl Apologized to Dead Family,” Toronto Star, 11 July 2007, p. A4.
[47] H. Lake, “Linking the Internet and Goth Culture to the Medicine Hat Murders may Be Jumping to Conclusions, Experts Caution,” The Ottawa Sun, 27 April 2006, p. 5.
[48] J. Stevenson, “Slain Boy Found in His Bed Surrounded by Blood Soaked Toys,” Canadian Press Newswire, 12 June 2007.
[49] I. Austen, “Gunman at Montreal College Left Dark Hints of Rage Online,” The New York Times, 15 September 2006, p. 10.
[50] I. MacLeod, “Vampire Culture Gets Another Black Mark after Shooting: Website Linked to Medicine Hat Slayings,” The Calgary Herald, 15 September 2006, p. A3.
[51] S. Zickefoose, “Girl Accused in Slayings Back in Court Today,” The Calgary Herald, 1 May 2006, p. B1.
[52] R. Remington and S. Zickefoose, “Runaway Devil: How Forbidden Love Drove a 12-Year-Old to Murder Her Family,” McClelland & Stewart, Toronto, 2009.
[53] “‘Vampire’ Meets ‘Teen’ in Graveyard,” United Press International, 28 April 2006.
[54] T. Reynolds, “Man Sentenced for Luring Teen over Vampirefreaks,” Trench Reynolds Crime News, 18 February 2009. http://www.crimene.ws/2009/02/man-sentenced-for-luring-teen-over.html.
[55] K. Connor, “‘Vampire’ Accused of Child Assault,” The Toronto Sun, 21 August 2009. http://cnews.canoe.ca/CNEWS/Crime/2009/08/21/10545726-sun. html .
[56] E. Morningstarr, “Vampire Freak Arrested for Child Sex Crime,” 22 August 2009. http://www.themorningstarr.co.uk/2009/08/22/vampire-freak-arrested-for-child-sex-crime.
[57] M. DuBois, “Parry Aftab of wiredsafety.org Discusses Monitoring of Web Sites that Could Influence Violent Behaviors among Its Users,” CBS News Transcripts, 16 September 2006.
[58] E. Strachan, “Gill, Games, Goth and Guns,” Pembroke Observer, 16 September 2006, p. 18.
[59] C. Blatchford, “Social Analysis of Violent Acts Could Be Key to Prevention,” The Globe and Mail, 15 September 2006, p. A10.
[60] P. Swanson and K. Nguyen, “Web Rants Raise Red Flags for Violence: But Police Can Do Little to Prevent Attacks,” The Gazette, Colorado Springs, Colorado, 16 December 2007. http://www.gazette.com/articles/people-30945-murray-web.html
[61] J. Mahoney, “Killer’s Grim Net Warning,” Daily News, New York, 15 September 2006, p. 33.
[62] I. Austen, “Gunman at Montreal College Left Dark Hints of Rage Online,” The New York Times, 15 September 2006, p. A9-A10.
[63] http://www.vampirefreaks.com/
[64] “Discussion with a Research Specialist,” George Washington University, Washington DC, 12 June 2008.
[65] S. Silberman, “The United States of America v. Adam Vaughn,” Wired, 10 October 2002. http://www.wired.com/wired/archive/10.10/kidporn.html
[66] “Interview with Marc Rotenberg, President of the Electronic Privacy Information Center,” Washington DC, 2 May 2008.
[67] R. Cohen-Almagor, “Responsibility of and Trust in ISPs,” Knowledge, Technology and Policy, Vol. 23, No. 3, 2010, pp. 381-397.
[68] “Special Theme: Social Networks Sites,” Journal of Computer-Mediated Communication, Vol. 13, No. 1, 2007. http://jcmc.indiana.edu/vol13/issue1/
[69] D. M. Boyd and N. B. Ellison, “Social Networks Sites: Definition, History and Scholarship”, Journal of Computer-Mediated Communication, Vol. 13, No. 1, 2007. doi:10.1111/j.1083-6101.2007.00393.x http://jcmc.indiana.edu/vol13/issue1/boyd.ellison.html
[70] M. F. Wright and Y. Li, “The Associations between Young Adults’ Face-to-Face Prosocial Behaviors and Their Online Prosocial Behaviours,” Computers in Human Behavior, Vol. 27, No. 5, 2011, pp. 1959-1962.
[71] J. B. Walther, B. Van Der Heide, S. Y. Kim, D. Westerman and S. T. Tong, “The Role of Friends Appearance and Behavior on Evaluations of Individuals on Facebook: Are We Known by The Company We Keep?” Human Communication Research, Vol. 34, No. 1, 2008, pp. 28-49.
[72] D. Boyd, “Taken out of Context: American Teen Sociality in Networked Publics.” Ph.D. Thesis, University of California-Berkeley, California, 2008. http://www.danah.org/papers/TakenOutOfContext.pdf.
[73] S. Zhao, S. Grasmuck and J. Martin, “Identity Construction on Facebook: Digital Empowerment in Anchored Relationships,” Computers in Human Behavior, Vol. 24, No. 5, 2008, pp. 1816-1836. doi:10.1016/j.chb.2008.02.012 http://astro.temple.edu/~bzhao001/Identity%20Construction%20on%20Facebook.pdf
[74] B. Hogan, “Analyzing Social Networks via the Internet,” In: N. Fielding, R. M. Lee and G. Blank, Eds., Sage Handbook of Online Research Methods, Sage, Thousand Oaks, 2008, pp. 141-160. doi:10.4135/9780857020055.n8
[75] D. Boyd, “Why Youth (Heart) Social Network Sites: The Role of Networked Publics in Teenage Social Life,” In: D. Buckingham, Ed., Youth, Identity and Digital Media, Massachusetts Institute of Technology Press, Cambridge, 2008, pp. 119-142.
[76] A. Lenhart and M. Madden, “Teens, Privacy and Online Social Networks,” Pew Internet & American Life Project, 18 April 2007. http://www.pewinternet.org/Reports/2007/Teens-Privacy-and-Online-Social-Networks.aspx
[77] S. Barnes, “A Privacy Paradox: Social Networking in the United States,” First Monday, Vol. 11, No. 9, 2006. http://firstmonday.org/htbin/cgiwrap/bin/ojs/index.php/fm/article/view/1394/1312
[78] M. J. Hodge, “The Fourth Amendment and Privacy Issues on the ‘New’ Internet: Facebook.Com and My space. Com,” Southern Illinois University Law Journal, Vol. 31, 2006, pp. 95-123. http://www.law.siu.edu/research/31fallpdf/fourthamendment.pdf
[79] K. J. Mitchell and M. Ybarra, “Social Networking Sites: Finding a Balance between Their Risks and Benefits,” Archives of Pediatrics & Adolescent Medicine, Vol. 163, No. 1, 2009, pp. 87-89.
[80] M. A. Moreno, M. R. Parks, F. J. Zimmerman, T. A. Brito and D. A. Christakis, “Display of Health Risk Behaviors on Myspace by Adolescents,” Archives of Pediatrics & Adolescent Medicine, Vol. 163, No. 1, 2009, pp. 27-34.
[81] M. Barbovschi, “Meet the ‘E-Strangers’. Predictors of teenagers’ Online-Offline Encounters,” Cyberpsychology: Journal of Psychosocial Research on Cyberspace, Vol. 3, No. 1, 2009. http://www.cyberpsychology.eu/view.php?cisloclanku=2009061603&article=4.

Copyright © 2024 by authors and Scientific Research Publishing Inc.

Creative Commons License

This work and the related PDF file are licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 International License.