A Comparison of the Inhibitors of Hacking vs. Shoplifting

The means by which the U.S. justice system attempts to control illegal hacking are practiced under the assumption that hacking is like any other illegal crime. This chapter evaluates this assumption by comparing illegal hacking to shoplifting. Three inhibitors of two illegal behaviors are examined: informal sanction, punishment severity, and punishment certainty. A survey of 136 undergraduate students attending a university and 54 illegal hackers attending the DefCon conference in 2003 was conducted. The results show that both groups perceive a higher level of punishment severity but a lower level of informal sanction for hacking than for shoplifting. Our findings show that hackers perceive a lower level of punishment certainty for hacking than for shoplifting, but students perceive a higher level of punishment certainty for hacking than for shoplifting. The results add to the stream of information security research and provide significant implications for law makers and educators aiming to combat hacking. A Comparison of the Inhibitors of Hacking vs. Shoplifting