Reuben's+Notes

Jordan and Taylor -

Viral memes / information society + anti-globalisation movement + hacker culture = hacktivism is a natural extension.

Try to put them into two categories: Mass-action activists - 'virtual blockades and sit-ins' (i think they mean DDoS attacks) Digitally correct activists believe in the free flow of information as a human right. (Wikileaks?)

Because of this the two groups occasionally conflict.

They look at the following (now outdated) groups - Electronic disturbance theatre, cult of the dead cow. And also political groups like mexican zapatista.

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Taylor: From Hacking to Hacktivism

Hacking was originally about celebrating human ingenuity over technological systems (in response to the feeling that many people have of being subordinate to technology). But then it became more about an uncritical celebration of those systems themselves. hacktivism re-orientates hacking towards broader, political goals, and thus restores some of the original vision of hacking.

Then it looks at different social theories of the relationship between power and technology, and uses them to work out whether hacktivism will be successful in its goals of liberating people from the oppressive power of technology.

four categories, which are roughly chronological although overlapping, are:

Hacker/cracker - someone who breaks into computer systems Microsers - geeks working for the man at microsoft Open Source movement - information should be free. Hacktivists - mid 1990's + hacking activity with overt political stance.

As the seventh generation of hackers, hacktivists mark a revitalized attempt to re-engineer the penchant of hacking for systems and to apply it to the biggest system of them all: capitalism.

Vamosi - PCWorld article 'How Hacktivism Affects us All' Sony developer key. Leaking of personal data of innocent people. Random disclosures could endanger lives. Personnel[sic] information appeared on public sites such as pastebin.