Fighting Crime Online: Options, Evidence, and the Empirical Case for Judicial Site Blocking in the U.S.

Authors

Brett Danaher, Chapman UniversityFollow
Jonathan Hersh, Chapman UniversityFollow
Michael D. Smith, Carnegie Mellon University
Rahul Telang, Carnegie Mellon University

Document Type

Editorial

Publication Date

4-29-2025

Abstract

"Here, we discuss the empirical evidence on the effectiveness of various methods of enforcement against criminal behavior on the Internet, synthesizing results from several distinct categories of crime. We then discuss why some methods are more effective than others in reducing illegal activities. We conclude by arguing that judicial website blocking, a method deployed in numerous stable, rights-respecting democracies worldwide, has been shown to have several desirable properties in fighting online criminal activities, and within the bounds of a carefully crafted framework we outline here, could be used safely and effectively in the U.S. as well."

Comments

This article was originally published in Communications of the ACM, volume 68, issue 7, in 2025. https://doi.org/10.1145/3722549

Recommended Citation

Danaher, B., Hersh, J., Smith, M.D., and Telang, R. Fighting Crime Online: Options, evidence, and the empirical case for judicial site blocking in the U.S. Communications of the ACM, 68(7), 34 - 36. https://doi.org/10.1145/3722549

Copyright

The authors