In this thesis some Māori-Māori and Māori-European transactions in pre-colonial New Zealand are examined in detail to establish why physical violence resulted although violence had not been the intention. A methodology adapted from those developed by Brass (1997) and Wilson (2008) for investigating violence has been used. The aim was to identify who were the social actors at key turning points in the sequences, what initiated the sequences and what eventually caused them to stop. Thus the focus of the analysis was to find which motivating factors influenced the actors’ decision making and caused the situations to evolve in the way they did. Using archival material, sailor and missionary journals, indigenous narratives, oral literature, genealogical and artifact records both Māori and European ways of ‘seeing’ and ‘knowing’ the world have been compared for evidence that ontological disjunction may have been a source of poor decision making. Competing notions of what constitutes theft are explored as one aspect of such disjunctions, because in all the transactions the initiating circumstance involved an action that could have been perceived as theft. Yet in addition to being a source of misunderstanding in the local cases described, theft is also shown to interfere with the social relationships of individuals and groups, diminishing their self-esteem and affecting their mana. It is this component of decision-making that is shown to have been crucial in provoking violence in all the New Zealand cases described. In turn the relationships between mana, honour and theft have been linked to contemporary records about the character and personality characteristics of the social actors who have been implicated in the violent actions. This suggests that Anton Blok’s notion of “Honour and Violence” applies cross-culturally, and equally, to early New Zealand as it does to the Northern Hemisphere examples he has used, and that further cross-cultural investigations of this connection may “allow us to reach some measure of transcultural understanding” (2001: 11). Furthermore, the results of this study also strongly suggest that preventing physical violence, promoting and negotiating peace require that mana and honour should be acknowledged.

In 2008, the Manitoba government implemented an electronic monitoring (EM) project for high-risk automobile theft offenders. To evaluate this program, youth in the program were matched with other high-risk auto theft offenders who had not been put on EM. Dimensions including characteristics, daily contacts and criminal histories were examined between groups. Interviews were also conducted with offenders who had been on EM and with program staff and stakeholders. The results of the evaluation indicated a small change in criminal history for the EM group for auto theft, technical and combined offenses. Since the Winnipeg Auto Theft Suppression Strategy (WATSS) began in 2005, there has been a decrease of approximately 11,000 auto thefts. Notably, only a very small part of this number could be attributed to the EM program. Electronic monitoring as an intervention can be a complementary program when offered in accompaniment with other WATSS and Manitoba Youth Correctional Services (MYCS) programs.

Thesis (M. A.)--University of Canterbury, 2008. / Typescript (photocopy). Includes bibliographical references (leaves 71-93). Also available via the World Wide Web.

Thesis (Ph.D)--Electrical and Computer Engineering, Georgia Institute of Technology, 2010. / Committee Chair: Blough, Douglas; Committee Member: Ahamad, Mustaque; Committee Member: Liu, Ling; Committee Member: Riley, George; Committee Member: Yalamanchili, Sudha. Part of the SMARTech Electronic Thesis and Dissertation Collection.

Thesis (M.S.)--Brigham Young University. Dept. of Computer Science, 2006. / Includes bibliographical references (p. 63-65).

Identity Theft could be currently considered as a significant problem in the modern internet driven era. This type of computer crime can be achieved in a number of different ways; various statistical figures suggest it is on the increase. It intimidates individual privacy and self assurance, while efforts for increased security and protection measures appear inadequate to prevent it. A forensic analysis of the digital evidence should be able to provide precise findings after the investigation of Identity Theft incidents. At present, the investigation of Internet based Identity Theft is performed on an ad hoc and unstructured basis, in relation to the digital evidence. This research work aims to construct a formalised and structured approach to digital Identity Theft investigations that would improve the current computer forensic investigative practice. The research hypothesis is to create an analytical framework to facilitate the investigation of Internet Identity Theft cases and the processing of the related digital evidence. This research work makes two key contributions to the subject: a) proposing the approach of examining different computer crimes using a process specifically based on their nature and b) to differentiate the examination procedure between the victim’s and the fraudster’s side, depending on the ownership of the digital media. The background research on the existing investigation methods supports the need of moving towards an individual framework that supports Identity Theft investigations. The presented investigation framework is designed based on the structure of the existing computer forensic frameworks. It is a flexible, conceptual tool that will assist the investigator’s work and analyse incidents related to this type of crime. The research outcome has been presented in detail, with supporting relevant material for the investigator. The intention is to offer a coherent tool that could be used by computer forensics investigators. Therefore, the research outcome will not only be evaluated from a laboratory experiment, but also strengthened and improved based on an evaluation feedback by experts from law enforcement. While personal identities are increasingly being stored and shared on digital media, the threat of personal and private information that is used fraudulently cannot be eliminated. However, when such incidents are precisely examined, then the nature of the problem can be more clearly understood.

The continuing financial losses incurred by individuals and companies due to identity information being phished are necessitating more innovative approaches to solving the problem of phishing attacks at the company level. Security standards are developed by respected experts in the profession and are widely accepted in the industry. The purpose of this study was to investigate whether a standard can be adapted to develop a framework that may guide companies in determining how to protect themselves against phishing attacks. A qualitative approach using design research as the methodology was used during the research. The data collection took place by means of a literature survey and semi-structured interviews. The artefact developed was a phishing-prevention framework based on the ISO/IEC 17799 standard, and the evaluation thereof took place through test cases. The findings communicated to the managerial audience was a set of recommendations as a further investment in their security protection against phishing attacks; the findings communicated to the technical audience was the successful adaptation of an existing security standard to produce a usable framework. Further research initiatives should extend the types of test cases that the phishing-prevention framework was evaluated against, and explore the use of tools for determining compliance with the framework. / Theoretical Computing / M. Sc. (Information Systems)

Timber theft is a crime within the forest industry which has not received a large amount of attention within research literature. As a result, there are no recent estimates available of the extent of the problem. The southern Appalachian region has conditions which seem to be conducive to timber theft, but convictions for timber theft in the area are infrequent. In order to address these issues, a study was undertaken in a 20 county region of the southern Appalachians to interview law enforcement officers and prosecuting attorneys about their knowledge of timber theft and their current level of investigation and prosecution. To ascertain the extent of timber theft, interviews were also carried out with both industrial and non-industrial landowners. The survey results indicate that both prosecuting attorneys and law enforcement officers are generally knowledgeable regarding timber theft and trespass. Results were similar between those individuals who had experience with the crime as well as those who did not. The overriding perception from both prosecuting attorneys and law enforcement officers was that timber theft should be handled as a civil violation. This perception was primarily a result of the frequent lack of properly located boundary lines to prove ownership of the property, and the difficulty of proving criminal intent. The study found 22 convictions for timber theft out of 36 criminal cases in the past three years. Due to a low response rate (16%) from non-industrial private forest landowners, estimates of the extent of timber theft were determined from the industrial landowner data and the law enforcement and attorney surveys. Based on these data, the impact of timber theft was conservatively estimated at 120 incidents per year, resulting in a loss of approximately $300,000 per year within the study area. An extrapolation of this to the entire southern Appalachian region would mean over $4 million per year. The results of this research indicates that there are potential areas for improvement in the conviction of timber theft offenders as well as in reducing the total number of theft incidents. The current statutes used to deal with timber theft are generally inadequate to provide prosecutors with the potential to convict most timber thieves because of the unique evidentiary requirements of a timber theft. As a result, changes in the statute would likely provide the greatest remedy. Civil statutes are also inadequate in many states to provide landowners the opportunity to obtain a suitable civil judgment. Information needs to be disseminated to landowners, law enforcement officers, and prosecuting attorneys about the aspects of timber theft which are most pertinent to them, and how the problem should be dealt with both before and after the theft. / Master of Science

No description available.

Financial institutions and other organizations increasingly rely on personal data to make decisions consequential for individual wellbeing and access to opportunity. They use that data to monitor and effect transactions, manage customer accounts, track categorical statuses and eligibility, and allocate resources like credit, housing, and insurance. Yet none of this would be possible without first linking data to particular people. How do organizations identify individual consumers, and with what consequence? In this dissertation, I investigate consumer identification by studying what happens when it breaks down. Drawing on a multi-site qualitative study of financial identity theft—including 1) 45 interviews with victims; 2) 48 interviews with professionals who work on identity theft cases; and 3) observations at industry events, a nonprofit call center, and the fraud department of a large credit union—I show how unique consumer “identities” emerge from the complex and often fraught interplay of technology, expert judgment, and consumer subjectivity. By juxtaposing organizational techniques—from time-honored document inspection to cutting-edge behavioral biometrics—with consumer disputes, my research contributes to our understanding of the social construction of “accurate” personal data while revealing new ways that cultural biases inform data governance and reinforce racial, economic, and gender inequalities. My account of consumer identification highlights two phenomena about which scholars know relatively little. First, the rising importance of personal information, coupled with its limited regulation, exposes individuals to risk—a phenomenon I refer to as data vulnerability. I show how data vulnerability generates economic insecurity by shaking individuals’ trust in other people, organizations, or systems. The ways that data vulnerability produces mistrust, however, reflect and reproduce social inequalities. Low-income people and people of color experienced identity theft as a violation of interpersonal trust and reported severing relationships and channels of informal assistance to protect themselves. In contrast, upper-income individuals and whites blamed organizations and demanded their protection. Second, individuals perform substantial labor—data work—to manage their personal information, including securing and repairing it when problems arise. My dissertation documents the kinds of work people perform and the relational networks in which that work unfolds. I then demonstrate how this work hinges on inequitably distributed knowledge, expertise, and material resources. Thus, while data work burdens everyone, it disproportionately threatens the resources and dignity of low-income and minority Americans. Through tracing efforts to resolve identity theft, my dissertation reveals the dynamics of consumer identification linked to countless resources and opportunities. Far from natural, the unique “identities” on which markets depend require substantial work from a wide network of stakeholders. But that work unfolds in unequal power-laden relationships and imposes substantial costs on many individuals, particularly the most disadvantaged. At a time when organizations worldwide depend on personal data, my dissertation shows how efforts to link that data to people shape the prospects for human dignity, equality, and flourishing in the digital age.