Tens of millions of people today are living part of their life in a virtual world. In places like World of Warcraft, Second Life, and Free Realms, people are making friends, building communities, creating art, and making real money. Business is booming on the virtual frontier, as billions of dollars are paid in exchange for pixels on screens. But sometimes things go wrong. Virtual criminals defraud online communities in pursuit of real-world profits.... more...

We live in a digital age. The proliferation of digital technology, and the convergence of computing and communication devices, has transformed the way in which we socialise and do business. While overwhelmingly positive, there has also been a dark side to these developments. Proving the maxim that crime follows opportunity, virtually every advance has been accompanied by a corresponding niche to be exploited for criminal purposes; so-called... more...

Every day, corporations are connecting the dots about our personal behavior―silently scrutinizing clues left behind by our work habits and Internet use. The data compiled and portraits created are incredibly detailed, to the point of being invasive. But who connects the dots about what firms are doing with this information? The Black Box Society argues that we all need to be able to do so―and to set limits on how big data affects... more...

Since Bitcoin appeared in 2009, the digital currency has been hailed as an Internet marvel and decried as the preferred transaction vehicle for all manner of criminals. It has left nearly everyone without a computer science degree confused: Just how do you “mine” money from ones and zeros? The answer lies in a technology called blockchain, which can be used for much more than Bitcoin. A general-purpose tool for creating secure,... more...

Digital government consists in the purposeful use of information and communication technologies (ICT), in particular the internet, to transform the relationship between government and society in a positive manner. This book focuses on the current status, prospects and foundations of digital government. Integrating examples and cases from administrative practice, it covers all important aspects of digital government management. Learning... more...

This book constitutes the proceedings of the 9th IFIP WG 8.5 International Conference on Electronic Participation, ePart 2017, held in St. Petersburg, Russia, in September 2017. The 11 revised full papers presented in this book were carefully reviewed and selected from 14 submissions. The papers reflect completed multi-disciplinary research ranging from policy analysis and conceptual modeling to programming and visualization of simulation... more...

Decentering Biotechnology explores the nature of technology, objects and patent law. Investigating the patenting of organic life and the manner in which artifacts of biotechnology are given their object-ive appearance, Carolan details the enrollment mechanisms that give biotechnology its momentum. Drawing on legal judgements and case studies, this fascinating book examines the nature of object-ification, as a thought and a thing, without which... more...

This book constitutes the thoroughly refereed post-conference proceedings of the 5th International ICST Conference on Digital Forensics and Cyber Crime, ICDF2C 2013, held in September 2013 in Moscow, Russia. The 16 revised full papers presented together with 2 extended abstracts and 1 poster paper were carefully reviewed and selected from 38 submissions. The papers cover diverse topics in the field of digital forensics and cybercrime,... more...

Millions of children have been born in the United States with the help of cutting-edge reproductive technologies, much to the delight of their parents. But alarmingly, scarce attention has been paid to the lax regulations that have made the U.S. a major fertility tourism destination. And without clear protections, the unique rights and needs of the children of assisted reproduction are often ignored.   This book is the first to... more...

This book constitutes the refereed proceedings of the 32nd IFIP TC 11 International Conference on ICT Systems Security and Privacy Protection, SEC 2017, held in Rome, Italy, in May 2017. The 38 revised full papers presented were carefully reviewed and selected from 199 submissions. The papers are organized in the following topical sections: network security and cyber attacks; security and privacy in social applications and cyber attacks... more...