ABSTRACT

This chapter evinces the contemporary relevance of radical criminology in technocrime and technosecurity through a tripartite analysis of the techno–security–capitalist complex, in order to demonstrate how radical theorising can be employed "to expose the hegemonic ideologies that the 'real' nature of crime and repression in capitalist society". It demonstrates how advances in Internet technologies create new opportunities for civil disobedience and protest, and how the state has been quick to respond to the threat posed by such groups and individuals by depoliticising their behaviour and depicting them as engaging in either acts of wanton vandalism and criminal damage or the theft of identity, money and information for personal gain. The chapter highlights how a "technocrime consciousness" has been manufactured by the news media and state and corporate elites in order to galvanise citizens' support for intrusive and authoritarian techno-mediated measures and computer crime laws.