Tackling cyber-terrorism: Balancing surveillance with counter-communication

Cyberspace has expanded the arena within which extremists and terrorists operate, posing a range of new challenges, many of which are still to be addressed. From propaganda through recruitment to financing and attack planning, the use of the Internet has been growing in size, subtlety and sophistication, often blurring the legal with the illegal. Its interconnectivity, anonymity and affordability have served Muslim extremists, white supremacists and neo-Nazis alike. The present article analyses the online challenges posed by such groups, pointing out how they might be potentially hampered by combining the currently dominant online surveillance with marginalized cyber (counter-) communication. It also highlights the mechanisms of decision making based on matters of principle and honour, the factors that typically drive terrorist actions, showing the inadequacy of the traditional economic models, on which the surveillance largely depends and risks scaring extremists off the radar

A systematic review of online child sexual abuse: victim risk and offender profile and methodologies

The purpose of this treatise was to synthesize the current research, nationally and internationally, both qualitative and quantitative, concerning online child sexual abuse. The study focused on crimes of a sexual nature perpetrated against children, with or without consent, in an online environment. The aim was to clearly articulate the characteristics of victims, including both their vulnerabilities and their protective factors and to provide offender profiles, including their methodologies. Method: A systematic search for peer reviewed articles published between 2000 and 2006 was conducted. The final sample included 73 articles, which were arranged in order of publication, and the top and bottom interquartile range was selected for review and coding. Results: 36 articles were thematically coded in order to identify the most prominent themes in the articles. The result of this review was a typology of victims and offenders, as well as offender methodologies that reflects an aggregation of the most prominent research on the subject of online child sexual abuse. Conclusion: Much of the common knowledge concerning online child sexual offenders and their victims is incorrect. The typologies identified in this review show a much more diverse picture of both offenders and victims than is held in popular knowledge. This research has identified the damage that misinformation can do, and has highlighted the need for accurate, empirically sound information to be made available to parents, teachers, health care professionals and youth

Teens who intervene: identifying factors related to adolescent cyber-bystander intervention in cyberbullying

Introduction: Cyberbullying experiences have been linked to mental health difficulties, highlighting the need to refine anti-cyberbullying interventions, particularly for at-risk groups, and understand what encourages bystanders to intervene. The current study compared adolescents’ prosocial cyber-bystander intentions in an intragroup (‘UK-born’ victim status) and intergroup (‘immigrant’ victim status) cyberbullying context. State empathy and state self-efficacy were examined as potential mediators, accounting for baseline trait levels of these two factors and gender. Methods: British adolescents (N=129; 13.5-15 years old; 59.7% female; predominately White) from two comprehensive schools in the UK took part in a two (gender: female/male) by two (victim status: British/immigrant) between-subjects quasi-experimental study. Participants were randomly assigned to read a gender-matched hypothetical cyberbullying vignette with an adolescent cyber-victim who was either ‘U.K.-born’ or an ‘immigrant’. Self-report questionnaires captured participants’ prosocial bystander intentions, state and trait self-efficacy and empathy, alongside demographic information. Results: Findings showed that victim status did not relate to self-efficacy or prosocial cyber-bystander intentions. Higher empathy was reported by females and, unexpectedly, within the ‘immigrant victim’ condition. An indirect relationship was found between victim status and prosocial cyber-bystander intentions, with state empathy as a statistical mediator. Trait empathy did not moderate the path between victim status and state empathy. Conclusions: The present study supports promoting bystander state empathy in anti-cyberbullying programmes, but the importance of intergroup processes is unclear. To reduce cyberbullying impact, future research should explore cyber-bystander behaviour towards at-risk groups inter-sectionally, controlling for additional intergroup variables which potentially caused a suppressor effect in the results

COVID-19 Booster Vaccine Acceptance in Ethnic Minority Individuals in the United Kingdom: a mixed-methods study using Protection Motivation Theory

Background: Uptake of the COVID-19 booster vaccine among ethnic minority individuals has been lower than in the general population. However, there is little research examining the psychosocial factors that contribute to COVID-19 booster vaccine hesitancy in this population.Aim: Our study aimed to determine which factors predicted COVID-19 vaccination intention in minority ethnic individuals in Middlesbrough, using Protection Motivation Theory (PMT) and COVID-19 conspiracy beliefs, in addition to demographic variables.Method: We used a mixed-methods approach. Quantitative data were collected using an online survey. Qualitative data were collected using semi-structured interviews. 64 minority ethnic individuals (33 females, 31 males; mage = 31.06, SD = 8.36) completed the survey assessing PMT constructs, COVID-19conspiracy beliefs and demographic factors. 42.2% had received the booster vaccine, 57.6% had not. 16 survey respondents were interviewed online to gain further insight into factors affecting booster vaccineacceptance.Results: Multiple regression analysis showed that perceived susceptibility to COVID-19 was a significant predictor of booster vaccination intention, with higher perceived susceptibility being associated with higher intention to get the booster. Additionally, COVID-19 conspiracy beliefs significantly predictedintention to get the booster vaccine, with higher conspiracy beliefs being associated with lower intention to get the booster dose. Thematic analysis of the interview data showed that barriers to COVID-19 booster vaccination included time constraints and a perceived lack of practical support in the event ofexperiencing side effects. Furthermore, there was a lack of confidence in the vaccine, with individuals seeing it as lacking sufficient research. Participants also spoke of medical mistrust due to historical events involving medical experimentation on minority ethnic individuals.Conclusion: PMT and conspiracy beliefs predict COVID-19 booster vaccination in minority ethnic individuals. To help increase vaccine uptake, community leaders need to be involved in addressing people’s concerns, misassumptions, and lack of confidence in COVID-19 vaccination

Cyberbullying in educational context

Kustenmacher and Seiwert (2004) explain a man’s inclination to resort to technology in his interaction with the environment and society. Thus, the solution to the negative consequences of Cyberbullying in a technologically dominated society is represented by technology as part of the technological paradox (Tugui, 2009), in which man has a dual role, both slave and master, in the interaction with it. In this respect, it is noted that, notably after 2010, there have been many attempts to involve artificial intelligence (AI) to recognize, identify, limit or avoid the manifestation of aggressive behaviours of the CBB type. For an overview of the use of artificial intelligence in solving various problems related to CBB, we extracted works from the Scopus database that respond to the criterion of the existence of the words “cyberbullying” and “artificial intelligence” in the Title, Keywords and Abstract. These articles were the subject of the content analysis of the title and, subsequently, only those that are identified as a solution in the process of recognizing, identifying, limiting or avoiding the manifestation of CBB were kept in the following Table where we have these data synthesized and organized by years

How teachers and young people perceive and respond to cyberbullying in the school environment

Due to the rise and availability of digital technologies, the nature of bullying has moved from traditional face-to-face bullying to via communication technologies. These bullying behaviours online are collectively known as cyberbullying. Cyberbullying results in negative outcomes for those involved and is increasingly presenting a cause for concern in the educational setting. The research takes a sequential exploratory mixed method approach to address the aims of the thesis looking at (1) how prospective and current teachers perceive cyberbullying when making judgements about how to manage and respond to it, and (2) how young people perceive cyberbullying according to the key factors that teachers considered when making judgements about how to manage cyberbullying. Initially, a systematic review was conducted to review the existing literature regarding teachers’ perceptions of and responses to cyberbullying. Study 1 was a qualitative thematic analysis of data from nine prospective teachers exploring how they would address cyberbullying. Study 2 was a qualitative thematic analysis of data collected from 63 teachers from 10 focus groups across primary, secondary, and college educational levels. Study 2 explored how teachers perceived and managed cyberbullying in the school. Together the findings from the earlier studies informed Study 3, a quantitative exploration on how young people from England (N = 1438, 11- to 20-year-olds) perceive and respond to cyberbullying based on the criteria identified by teachers that may inhibit intervention. Findings from across the studies reported in the thesis suggest that prospective and current teachers recognise that cyberbullying is an escalating issue that presents a problem in the school environment. The teachers also utilised different strategies to manage cyberbullying, particularly in the context of bullying severity and the unique characteristics associated with cyberbullying. The research also found that young people do respond to cyberbullying differently based on the publicity of the act, the anonymity of the bully, the type of cyberbullying perpetrated, and the extent the victim is upset. Through a sequential exploratory mixed method approach, the empirical research presented in the thesis offers a unique contribution to the literature and extends the knowledge base on how cyberbullying is managed in the school environment