NCJ Number
166008
Date Published
1996
Length
13 pages
Annotation
This chapter examines the swiftly changing nature of computer technology as it affects the leisure patterns of Canadian youth.
Abstract
The author contacted a wide variety of adolescent computer hackers by conducting research that took the form of "skating" around the Internet. The discussion details the social world of and the deviant and criminal activities committed by "cyberpunks" as they relate to bulletin board systems found on the Internet. Findings show that youth culture has become electrified as countless "cyberskaters" are spending hours each day on their home and school computers linked with a myriad of information systems. The Information Highway has also enabled some youths to expand their deviant and sometimes criminal activities. Computer break-ins by teenagers of military databases and of files of international banks are now widely recognized as a new form of youth resistance. Thousands of youth now regularly attempt to break into information databases. This "hacking" is viewed by many young computer users as a rite of passage, as part of the process of becoming accepted by the "cyberskating" community. Often, youth must prove themselves worthy of belonging to a "virtual community" by committing criminal acts such as information theft, software theft, and virus "assault." To show how such juvenile computer deviance emerges, this chapter first examines computer bulletin boards as sites for social and criminal activities. It then addresses hacking, software pirating, and the dealing of illegal goods and services. The chapter shows how technology has changed and produced a new youth culture and youth deviance. 34 references