Digital Private Justice

This chapter focuses on the relationship between private justice and technology that motivated this book. It begins with an overview of the phenomenon, accompanied by several examples and a reflection on the context of its emergence. Then, for their significance in representing different aspects of online private justice, two cases were examined in more detail: (i) the impersonation of minors on dating sites with a goal of gathering evidence against sexual predators; and (ii) the hack of an intelligence firm to expose its dubious practices, which resulted in a 10-year sentence for the perpetrator. These cases illustrate that legal treatment of online private justice cases is not always consistent, due to the diversity of conduct and methods at stake. To achieve more coherence, these behaviours should be placed on a spectrum of intrusiveness into the rights and interests of others and the administration of justice. An integrated approach that focuses on actions, rather than actors or methods, should be sought.