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Semi-anonymous question and answer platforms from a teenager’s point of view : Beyond Internet abuse on Sayat.me: the bigger pictureDugardyn, Juliette January 2018 (has links)
This master thesis studies teenage users that are common to the semi-anonymous question and answer platform Sayat.me. Sayat.me offers users with a profile the possibility to receive questions and feedback from friends and peers. What is so special about the platform is that the commenters’ identity remains undisclosed, which means that all messages are by default anonymous. Previous research has demonstrated the frequent occurrence of cyberbullying or online abuse on these platforms. Adults are puzzled as to why semi-anonymous question and answer platforms are so popular amongst teenagers. Departing from a theoretical framework with key concepts from digital and social media theories, the analysis tries to create a better understanding of this phenomenon from Belgian teenagers’ point of view. The results of the interviews show that, first of all, Sayat.me is not considered as an independent social media site, but rather as an extension of it. On social media, ‘sociality’ and ‘connection’ is what matters, but on Sayat.me sociality mainly plays an indirect role where users receive compliments from and are comforted by friends. Compliments, approval and admiration is what teenagers keeps coming back to the platform. Although teenagers often encounter online abuse, they do not feel cyberbullied, even so they consider this abuse as ‘natural’ on the platform. In addition, it appears that the way you are handling Sayat.me says a lot about you as a person, which is why teens use Sayat.me to present themselves or to portray a certain image. However, teenagers only imagine their friends or peers as the audience and do not consider their Sayat.me for their parents’ eyes. The situation is that parents are confused and do not understand their children’s online behaviour, whilst teenagers are annoyed with their parents’ incomprehension and overprotectiveness.
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The Dark Flows of Cryptocurrency : an overview of money flow behaviors in Bitcoin transactions related to online criminal activities and Bitcoin mixersOlsson, Anton, Andersson, Daniel January 2024 (has links)
The decentralized and pseudonymous nature of cryptocurrencies like Bitcoin has made it easier for criminal entities to engage in illicit activities online compared to relying on traditional currency systems. Detecting these activities is vital to preventing and combating such abuse. We employ a data collection tool based on a Depth First Search algorithm to follow the largest receivers from 10 illicit starting addresses in each abuse type; Darknet, Blackmail, Tumbler, and Ransomware. The results from our two searches showed that money tends to be concentrated to one or two receivers and that all abuse types rely heavily on so-called Two-Transaction addresses. These addresses are only used once, likely as intermediaries to obfuscate money flow, potentially within the inner layer of Bitcoin Tumblers. The results also showed behaviors within the abuse types that were both consistent with and divergent from existing research. Furthermore, similarities and unique behaviors across the abuse types were identified. Expanding the dataset with deeper searches could yield clearer patterns in money flow behavior. Additionally, increasing the number of data collection points could enhance the analysis. Finally, the starting addresses significantly impacted the trustworthiness and reliability of our results. We hope our findings, lessons, and developed tools will aid future research and the development of strategies to combat online abuse.
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