Hacktivism

In class, someone mentioned the word, "Hacktivists."  I had never heard the word, and so did some research.  Basically, hactivism is civil disobedience/activism in digital culture.  Like normal civil disobedience, it can be violent or non-violent.

For example, in 2011 a bunch of hacktivists leaked the password lists and credit card information of Stratfor Security clients.  The hacktivist group, called Anonymous, also used this information to make unauthorized charitable donations.  Anonymous has a long history, and its motives were not entirely understood, though they generally have it out for security companies and those who oppose sites like WikiLeaks.  They feel the condemnation of Private Bradley Manning, who published diplomatic documents and war zone field reports to WikiLeaks, was wrong. 

On the other hand, hacktivism can also include something as innocent as anonymous blogging, wherein writers speak to a wide audience about human rights and political issues using free e-mail accounts, IP masking, and blogging software to provide anonymity.  I'm about a step away from being a hacktivist in that regard.

There are many forms of hacktivism, including e-mail bombing, where hacktivists send tons of e-mails to the target; web page defacing; and web sit-ins, where hacktivists send so much traffic to a site it becomes inaccessible to other users.  Hacktivism can be on an individual or larger group level.


Civil disobedience of the past and hacktivism obviously have many similarities.  There are varying degrees of involvement and victimization in both, and both seek to somehow change the world.  As our culture becomes more and more digitized, even our revolutions are moving online.  That does not make them any less effective, however.  They can lead to as much change as a physical protest.  The effort involved is different, though.  Instead of having to commit one's body to a cause, as in the civil rights movement where sit-ins and marches were used as demonstrations, one's mind must be committed.  The hacktivist must use their intellect to hack the target.  They can destroy a website and therefore someone's revenue or privacy from their own homes.  It's an interesting development in our culture that seems only natural.  As our world moves online, so do our rebellions.