Hacktivism

This weeks topic on hacktivism and digital activism is increasingly relevant to a contemporary change in politics and counter culture. Everett says that, “it is my contention that the recent “dot-com bust” or “meltdown” occurring in the high- technology sector of Wall Street represents an important reprieve for the grassroots’ organizing efforts aimed at democratizing the Internet in ways that existing mass media corporate interests disallow” (Everett, 2002).


Those who participate in hacktivism in my mind have always been linked to some sort of mischief, accompanied by poor morals with the intention of causing problems for the rest of us. After the topic was brought up in lecture this week I was inclined to look further into whether this conception of the activity is accurate or not.

As it turns out, I am most definitely not the only one with these preconceptions in my head, but there are a wide variety of interpretations. Many respected newspapers and public figures have involved themselves in the discourse surrounding the topic, many participating in increasing the moral panic that surrounds it. Terrorism has been a prevalent topic in modern discourse and so, of course, it has been assessed that the terrorists are participating in hacktivism. The LA times is quoted to have stated that, “from charismatic clerics who spout hate online, to thousands of extremist websites, chat rooms and social networking pages that raise money and spread radical propaganda, the Internet has become a crucial front in the ever-shifting war on terrorism."

On the opposite side of the spectrum of opinion, the U.S Department of State’s 2009 Human Rights Report discusses the topic from a different angle. The report assess that use of the internet and the public domain as being highly important to democracy, freedom, and human rights. The report states that “Despite official monitoring and censorship, dissidents and political activists continued to use the Internet to advocate and call attention to political causes such as prisoner advocacy, political reform, ethnic discrimination, corruption, and foreign policy concerns”

A site that considers itself an expert on the topic is called thehacktivist.com. The writers of this page state that, “both hacking and activism, and thus hacktivism, are loaded words ripe for a variety of interpretation” and that, “hacktivism is a continually evolving and open process; its tactics and methodology are not static.” When discussing this topic in the future we should step back from a technological deterministic point of view and remember that no technology is inherently bad, it is up to the individual or group as to how they will use it. In the case of hacktivism, there have been instances in which it has been used for good and evil.