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The Darknet and Smarter Crime

Methods for Investigating Criminal Entrepreneurs and the Illicit Drug Economy

  • Book
  • © 2020

Overview

Authors:
  1. Angus Bancroft

    1. School of Social and Political Science, University of Edinburgh, Edinburgh, UK

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  • Engages with a number of debates about the internet and new communication technologies
  • Argues that the darknet and the technologies used in it have benefits and
  • significance for everyone online
  • Includes methodological reflections in each chapter which will be of use to researchers
  • Draws on several research projects

Part of the book series: Palgrave Studies in Cybercrime and Cybersecurity (PSCYBER)

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Table of contents (11 chapters)

  1. Front Matter

    Pages i-xiv
    Download chapter PDF

  2. Crime Is as Smart and as Dumb as the Internet

    • Angus Bancroft
    Pages 1-22

  3. How Cryptomarkets Work

    • Angus Bancroft
    Pages 23-39

  4. Fracturing Research in Splintering Digital Environments

    • Angus Bancroft
    Pages 41-64

  5. Illicit Trades Are Political Economies

    • Angus Bancroft
    Pages 65-84

  6. The Cultural Drug-Crime Confection

    • Angus Bancroft
    Pages 85-102

  7. Cybercrime Is Not Always Rational, but It Is Reasonable

    • Angus Bancroft
    Pages 103-127

  8. Managing Trust Relationships in Digital Crime

    • Angus Bancroft
    Pages 129-134

  9. How Knowledge About Drugs Is Produced in Cryptomarkets

    • Angus Bancroft
    Pages 135-152

  10. Creating, Managing and Responding to Risk in Cryptomarkets

    • Angus Bancroft
    Pages 153-174

  11. Secrecy and Anonymity Online

    • Angus Bancroft
    Pages 175-196

  12. Why Digital Crime Works

    • Angus Bancroft
    Pages 197-203

  13. Back Matter

    Pages 205-235
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Keywords

About this book

This book draws on research into darknet cryptomarkets to examine themes of cybercrime, cybersecurity, illicit markets and drug use. Cybersecurity is increasingly seen as essential yet it is also a point of contention between citizens, states, non-governmental organisations and private corporations as each grapples with existing and developing technologies. The increased importance of privacy online has sparked concerns about the loss of confidentiality and autonomy in the face of state and corporate surveillance on one hand, and the creation of ungovernable spaces and the facilitation of terrorism and harassment on the other. These differences and disputes highlight the dual nature of the internet: allowing counter-publics to emerge and providing opportunities for state and corporate domination through control of the data infrastructure. 

The Darknet and Smarter Crime argues that, far from being a dangerous anarchist haven, the darknet and the technologies used within it could have benefits and significance for everyone online. This book engages with a number of debates about the internet and new communication technologies, including: surveillance and social control, anonymity and privacy, the uses and abuses of data encryption technologies and cyber-cultures and collective online identities

Reviews

“This useful reference brings together various facets of digital crime and their connections with offline behavior, providing readers with a deeper understanding of the success of cryptomarkets as the choice platform for online drug markets.” (Phoram Mehta, Computing Reviews, February 25, 2021)

Authors and Affiliations

  • School of Social and Political Science, University of Edinburgh, Edinburgh, UK

    Angus Bancroft

About the author

Angus Bancroft is Lecturer in Sociology at The University of Edinburgh, UK. His current research interests are cyber-security, illicit markets and views of darknet users. He is the author of three previous books: Dead White Men and Other Important People (Palgrave, 2016); Drugs, Intoxication and Society (Cambridge Polity, 2009); and Roma and Gypsy-Travellers in Europe: Modernity, Race, Space and Exclusion (Avebury Ashgate, 2005). 

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