Virtual vandalism is any attack on the virtual property of another, with the sole intention of causing disruption or destruction to said virtual property.
Criminological research into vandalism has found that it serves many purposes for those who engage in it and stems from a variety of motives.
Sociologist Stanley Cohen describes six different types of vandalism:[1] :
window to be arrested and get a bed for the night in a police cell).
Cohen's original typology was improved upon by Mike Sutton [2] whose research led him to add a seventh sub-type of vandalism – Peer Status Motivated Vandalism.[3] This seventh category was found by criminologist Dr. Mathew Williams to be the best fit for explaining the virtual vandalism he studied. Williams’ seminal paper in the Internet journal of criminology[4] makes a significant contribution to understanding the motivations for vandalism, and the characteristics of the dynamics of the groups that participate in it.
Virtual vandalism is a sub-type of virtual crime. Williams’ Internet journal of criminology paper describes the differences and similarities between online (virtual) and offline vandalism:
Terrestrial forms of vandalism are material crimes because they have a physical presence. Conversely acts of online vandalism have no tangible element, making them immaterial. Although the defacement inflicted by a hacker on a website is visual, there is actually no physical damage – and repairing the damage done usually involves nothing more than downloading the original file of computer code to replace the corrupted one. The effects of online vandalism, however, are said to be disproportionate because the damage to either corporate or political reputation can be substantial.
In his academic article describing the virtual ethnography of vandalism in a 3D Internet-based community, Williams writes:[5]
Commonly online vandalism has been understood to mean the defacement or destruction of commercial, government or personal websites. This is a rather parochial understanding of the phenomenon which marginalises other more esoteric, but nonetheless prevalent, acts of virtual property destruction. Most notably, unique forms of online vandalism exist within graphical online communities, where virtual buildings, homes and memorials are often defaced and even destroyed.
Dr. Matthew Williams' work shows how much things have changed in the last 30 years since Professor Cohen first published his research.