When discussing the concepts of crime and cybercrime, their victims are important key players to understand why these criminal acts takes place. More importantly, with these players taken into...Show moreWhen discussing the concepts of crime and cybercrime, their victims are important key players to understand why these criminal acts takes place. More importantly, with these players taken into account, it is not only possible to understand this concept but also to predict and prevent the crimes that take place. In this thesis, the research focuses on individual victims of cybercrime in the Netherlands and their behavioural characteristics. The aim of this research is to study which behavioural risk factors have a predictive value for victimization, both in the offline as the online world. To answer this question, I designed a digital survey to compare two types of crime; one in the offline world and one in the online world. These two criminal acts have in common that they are comparable with each other, with the only difference that they take place in different worlds. The chosen criminal acts are doorstep scams in the offline world, and phishing in the online world. A scientific literature review, the data collected from the digital questionnaire and the subsequent analysis will answer the sub-questions of this research. It seemed that certain risk factors like socio-economic status, online activities, optimism bias, loneliness, capable guardianship and offline victimization had a significant correlation with victimization. For the factors optimism bias, capable guardianship and loneliness, these results had even a predictive value. Although there is quite an amount of scientific research available on risk factors and victimization, this research shows that there is still not enough knowledge about the behaviour of victims. This is because the studied risk factors have little to do with the actual behaviour of potential victims. Researchers must take a step back to study which existing theories should be better investigated for the existence of other, potential risk factors. With a descent description and formulation of the new risk factors, it would be easier in the future to reduce online and offline victimization based on these risk factors.Show less
Data sharing and data harvesting practices not only infringe the privacy rights of individuals but cause significant harms to others as well. Emissions of personally sensitive behavioural data are...Show moreData sharing and data harvesting practices not only infringe the privacy rights of individuals but cause significant harms to others as well. Emissions of personally sensitive behavioural data are leaked into the digital economy causing damage to social practices and destabilizing political and informational ecosystems. Data pollution is like industrial pollution, and environmental law suggestions can offer solutions to the problem. Will a Pigouvian tax on data extraction limit or constrain the negative externalities of data pollution? This explorative research aims to investigate whether a data pollution tax can operate as a regulatory instrument to curb data pollution and whether citizens support this measure. Do citizens support a data pollution tax designed so that harms to others, affecting their core human capabilities, will be taxed as a matter of principle? Suppose excessive (corporate) data sharing and extraction practices that cause harm to others will be taxed. Do individuals expect that persons and corporations will change their data transmission practices? Our survey findings show that (United States) citizens consider that harms caused by data pollution should be taxed. Respondents will also substantially decrease their data pollution behaviour once a tax is imposed. However, and to our surprise, our research findings also lay bare a possible ‘bad behaviour paradox’: the more significant the harm caused by some instances of data pollution, the less willing people are to change behaviour relative to the tax imposed.Show less
