ABSTRACT

Cybercrime is ubiquitous. People now inhabit a digital environment comprising permanent risk, exponential threats, and multiple virtual/physical harms, forming a global community of malefactors and the criminally exploited. The purpose of this paper is two-fold. First, through an archaeological lens, to characterize the new materiality of cybercrime (including its artefacts and architecture alongside digital/virtual manifestations). And second, to explore the potential for new perspectives on cybercrime borne out of this archaeological approach. In short: what is the archaeology of cybercrime and can new understandings emerge from an archaeological perspective? In undertaking this research we also challenge the long-held presumption that non-physical traces cannot be studied archaeologically. It is our contention that they can.

摘要

网络犯罪无处不在。人们现在居住在一个包含永久性风险、指数级威胁和多种虚拟/物理伤害的数字环境中，形成了一个由犯罪分子和被犯罪剥削者组成的全球社区。本文的目的是双重的。首先，通过考古学的视角来表征网络犯罪的新物质性（包括其人工制品和建筑以及数字/虚拟表现形式）。其次，探索从这种考古方法中产生的关于网络犯罪的新观点的潜力。简而言之：网络犯罪的考古学是什么，从考古学的角度是否会出现新的理解？在进行这项研究时，我们还挑战了长期以来无法通过考古研究非物理痕迹的假设。我们的论点是他们可以。