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Huey, L., Nhan, J., & Broll, R. (2013). ‘Uppity civilians’ and ‘cyber-vigilantes’: The role of the general public in policing cyber-crime. Criminology & Criminal Justice, 13, 81-97.

Summary: The distributed nature of the Internet requires that security issues be addressed through collaborative efforts within and across various sets of public and private actors. Drawing on nodal governance theory, this article explores one aspect of the role that the general public can and does play in the field of cyber-security: civilian policing of the Internet. In particular, we examine the motives and actions of regular citizens, who use their computer skills to identify, track and collect information on the activities of suspected criminal offenders. Whereas some groups use such information to engage in vigilante acts, the groups that we study work cooperatively with police, collecting information to pass onto criminal justice agencies. We suggest that these collectives and their members are a potentially useful, if under-valued, component of cyber-security networks.

Questions to Consider:

1. What are the structural and cultural limitations traditional policing organizations face that limit their ability to police cyber-crimes?
    
2. How can private citizens play a role in policing cyber-crime? Are these ‘cyber-vigilantes’ harmful or beneficial for law-enforcement? Why?
    
3. According to the authors findings how to public police officers view civilian groups?
    

Marcum, C. D.,  Higgins, G. E., Freiburger, T. L.,  & Ricketts, M. L. (2010). Policing possession of child pornography online: Investigating the training and resources dedicated to the investigation of cyber-crime. International Journal of Police Science & Management, 12, 516-525.

Summary: The internet is not a single network, limited to one specific type of information or restrictive of the types of users who can access its information. Conversely, the internet is an intercontinental information highway that has enabled people of all ages to communicate with family and friends with lightning-fast speed, share and collect information, and connect with people and companies thousands of miles from their computer (Roberts, Foehr, Rideout, & Brodie, 1999; Rosenbaum et al., 2000; Smith & Rupp, 2002). However, this growth of information technology has introduced a new form of criminality to the criminal justice system: cyber crime (Denning, 1998). The purpose of this research study is to investigate the prevalence of cyber criminality, specifically possession of child pornography, in law enforcement jurisdictions and the types of training which local and State law enforcement agencies currently offer to effectively combat these technological crimes.

Questions to Consider:

1. How does policing a cyber environment differ from policing a real world environment?
    
2. Based on the findings of this study how prevalent is child pornography?
    
3. What were some issues identified by the authors regarding how police agencies investigate child pornography? If you could make suggestions to law enforcement on how to more effectively police child pornography what would you suggest and why?