Computer abuse: Problems of instrumental control

During the 1970's and 80's an overwhelming majority of state legislatures acted to protect computer technology by declaring unauthorized intrusion into electronic data files and similar offenses as crime. Despite that effort and the admitted threat posed by perpetrators to vital local, state, national and international interests, pursuit and control of these offenders has lagged. Using a social constructionist perspective, the purpose of this paper is to offer an account for the apparent contradiction between the perception of these events as serious and offensive, and the resulting zealous lawmaking effort, on the one hand, and lagging control or law enforcement efforts, on the other. Of relevance to the analysis are several issues that inform commonsensical understandings regarding the wrong‐fulness of computer abuse. Included are: the popular image of perpetrators; efforts to neutralize abusers’ behavior; the fact that victims often are large corporations; and the conception that much computer abuse is play. Together, these constructions permit one to “make sense” of this seeming contradiction, shed further light on the problematic nature of crime and deviance, and lend added clarity to the distinction between rule breaking and deviation/crime.