An examination of gaming platform policies for law enforcement support

Ruth Threadgall; Graeme Horsman

doi:10.1016/j.fsidi.2019.200887

An examination of gaming platform policies for law enforcement support

Ruth Threadgall, Graeme Horsman

Centre for Digital Innovation

Research output: Contribution to journal › Article › peer-review

244 Downloads (Pure)

Abstract

The problems faced with regulating social media platforms are well known and documented, where frequent abuses of these platforms occur. In addition to this issue, the use of gaming platforms and their inbuilt communication facilities to carry out malicious acts including hate crimes and grooming is now an increasing concern. The regulation of gaming applications is now arguably a necessity with acts of criminal behaviour on these platforms starting to be reported. This work examines the terms and conditions, privacy policies and sign up and account validation processes for 40 gaming applications. The results are presented and examined, highlighting weaknesses in data retention periods, account validation and a lack of clarity with regards to law enforcement cooperation. This work aims to support law enforcement who are undertaking investigations involving these platforms.

Original language	English
Article number	200887
Number of pages	20
Journal	Digital Investigation
Volume	31
DOIs	https://doi.org/10.1016/j.fsidi.2019.200887
Publication status	Published - 4 Dec 2019

Access to Document

10.1016/j.fsidi.2019.200887Licence: Unspecified

Full textAccepted author manuscript, 703 KBLicence: CC BY-NC-ND

https://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S1742287619303317#!Licence: Unspecified

Cite this

@article{aed9f6c0db2d455ebf6ac92041a9bef8,

title = "An examination of gaming platform policies for law enforcement support",

abstract = "The problems faced with regulating social media platforms are well known and documented, where frequent abuses of these platforms occur. In addition to this issue, the use of gaming platforms and their inbuilt communication facilities to carry out malicious acts including hate crimes and grooming is now an increasing concern. The regulation of gaming applications is now arguably a necessity with acts of criminal behaviour on these platforms starting to be reported. This work examines the terms and conditions, privacy policies and sign up and account validation processes for 40 gaming applications. The results are presented and examined, highlighting weaknesses in data retention periods, account validation and a lack of clarity with regards to law enforcement cooperation. This work aims to support law enforcement who are undertaking investigations involving these platforms. ",

author = "Ruth Threadgall and Graeme Horsman",

year = "2019",

month = dec,

day = "4",

doi = "10.1016/j.fsidi.2019.200887",

language = "English",

volume = "31",

journal = "Digital Investigation",

issn = "1742-2876",

publisher = "Elsevier",

}

TY - JOUR

T1 - An examination of gaming platform policies for law enforcement support

AU - Threadgall, Ruth

AU - Horsman, Graeme

PY - 2019/12/4

Y1 - 2019/12/4

N2 - The problems faced with regulating social media platforms are well known and documented, where frequent abuses of these platforms occur. In addition to this issue, the use of gaming platforms and their inbuilt communication facilities to carry out malicious acts including hate crimes and grooming is now an increasing concern. The regulation of gaming applications is now arguably a necessity with acts of criminal behaviour on these platforms starting to be reported. This work examines the terms and conditions, privacy policies and sign up and account validation processes for 40 gaming applications. The results are presented and examined, highlighting weaknesses in data retention periods, account validation and a lack of clarity with regards to law enforcement cooperation. This work aims to support law enforcement who are undertaking investigations involving these platforms.

AB - The problems faced with regulating social media platforms are well known and documented, where frequent abuses of these platforms occur. In addition to this issue, the use of gaming platforms and their inbuilt communication facilities to carry out malicious acts including hate crimes and grooming is now an increasing concern. The regulation of gaming applications is now arguably a necessity with acts of criminal behaviour on these platforms starting to be reported. This work examines the terms and conditions, privacy policies and sign up and account validation processes for 40 gaming applications. The results are presented and examined, highlighting weaknesses in data retention periods, account validation and a lack of clarity with regards to law enforcement cooperation. This work aims to support law enforcement who are undertaking investigations involving these platforms.

U2 - 10.1016/j.fsidi.2019.200887

DO - 10.1016/j.fsidi.2019.200887

M3 - Article

SN - 1742-2876

VL - 31

JO - Digital Investigation

JF - Digital Investigation

M1 - 200887

ER -

An examination of gaming platform policies for law enforcement support

Abstract

Access to Document

Fingerprint

Cite this