Fisk-Memo12a

Wall, D. (2008). CYBERCRIME AND THE CULTURE OF FEAR. Information, Communication &; Society. 11 (6), 861-884.

1a. p. 862 “Drilling down for an explanation of the contradictions between what people say (reporting) and what is happening (prosecutions) reveals a mythology about cyberspace and cybercrime that originates, not so much in fact, but rather in fiction, or social science fiction – the branch of science fiction that explores those forms of society that are the product of technological change.”

1b. p. 876: “Social science fiction has, within the space of a few years, excited an information generation, aggressively embraced networked technologies and made them its own. The information generation’s resonance with the various ‘factional’ depictions of cyberspace, cyberpunk and cybercrime has enabled them to define their identity in late-modern society.”

1c. p. 862: “We are at the beginning of a new chapter of ‘the social’ in which hypothetical risk and the culture of fear plays a dominant role, a social in which, to paraphrase Furedi (2002, p. 34), what used to pass for science fiction is now becoming a statement about society’s anxieties. Only by engaging directly with these fears and myths can this trend be arrested and the benefits of what is to come be realised. ”

2. Science fiction, as a representation of societal anxieties over changing technology, is shaping news media and legislative discourse surrounding cybercrime, leading to disconnects between law and deviance.

3. Empirical link between science fiction and categories of crime Semi-fictional/mythical media coverage & policy discourse surrounding cybercrime ???

4. Wall's argument does not specifically refer to many other literatures. When it does, it seems to draw primarily on communications theory, citing Innis and Baudrillard (comm theory?). Despite largely describing moral panic, Wall only touches on the topic briefly.

5. Wall would add support to nearly any of the various arguments I might imagine concerning cybercrime and moral panic. He clearly supports the idea that there is a disconnect between what goes on online and public conceptions/media coverage/legislation of cybercrime. Additionally, I have yet to find (much) literature linking moral panic and cybercrime, and he is one of the few who fill that gap in some way. His framing of the multiple waves of hacking movies runs parallel with my own thoughts – although he does not make a connection to hacking activities. However, Wall seemingly presents a “technology-out-of-control” type argument in his conclusion...

6. Social science fictions – which draw upon fears of changing technologies – shape moral panics regarding cybercrime