Is Positive Hacktivism Real?

In an era now of unprecedented connectivity between people and information over the digital network, the possibilities of social activism and participation have expanded into something completely unremarkable. With a left click of a mouse or a tap on a phone, a netizen is capable of instantaneously connecting themselves to real time information, and furthermore, react and involve themselves directly with current events. In this sense, the modern individual is able to participate precisely with the social and political issues that are imperative to their own values, and moreover, manipulate and organize the rallying behind these particular values.

The constant use of social media and the internet has developed a trained level of proficiency in utilizing Web 2.0. We’ve learned to type out our thoughts quicker than before, and we’ve learned to produce interactive “posts” for netizens to comment on, share, and use to mobilize more and more followers to the “cause”. This training on activism and online participation has brought rise to a certain kind of “expertise” in digital politics …

It’s called “hacktivism”, a form of internet activism centered around infiltrating a computer system to carry out troublesome intentions in the name of social/political activity. In essence, it’s virtual vigilantism, being a superhero on the web. One can look at the work and be admired by doing good in a world hiding so much corruption behind the scenes. Websites such as Wikileaks have emerged to compile records of information, government files, and corruption anonymously in a database. The site is ran by multiple contributors, making this a forum of hacktivist community as well as just posted information.

An issue of ethics does come into question however, as to if the practice of hacktivism is truly positive in its operation. It’s the class old tale and question that we see in comic books; is vigilantism a good thing? We can look at hacktivist groups and feel gracious towards hackers and whistle blowers to keep the general public informed on dealings and intrigue that goes about behind the backs of the people. Yet, another association can be given to identify the act of what could be as well…virtual terrorism. Hacktivist group ‘Anonymous’ has been called on numerous occasions, to be a terrorist organization because of the way they hack into classified files and release them into the public. Their M.O. for the most part, appears to follow that of many terrorist associations that we may see. Usually an Anonymous video would show a single individual in black adorning a ‘Guy Fawkes Mask’ like that of the movie “V” and with a voice modifier lowering the pitch of individual as they speak. This modus operandi is very indicative of terrorist videos that one may think of when they imagine ISIS or Al Qaeda.

When we think of cyber attacks, generally, these attacks are done on some server where some hooligan launches a DNS at the expense of weak domain protection. We think of cyber crime by some evil hacker that is trying to cripple our way of life or steal our information. Realistically, however, the majority of cyber “attacks” or “crime” are done for the sake of hacktivism. It accounts for more than double that of the next in line cyber attack which is the actual cyber crime that we would think of. Based off of this information, it appears as though hacktivism appears to be utilized abundantly as a way of involving oneself into the realm of political intrigue.

Hacktivism, in itself, doesn’t sound to be a totally horrendous thing. It is simply the utilization of a medium for talented people to be involved in the state of social and political mobilization. However, the ethical approach to accepting hacktivist, I suppose, would be to see it as a last line of defense. People can easily find themselves mobilized through the organization of social media websites and applications, to be out there publicly trying to create ripples and change for one’s community. One can schedule meetings with local representatives or set up protests and rallies to get their voices heard. Hacktivism, as noble as it sounds, should be something one resorts to if all other options are exhausted. Can hacktivism be positive? Certainly, but it must be tempered with good intentions and disciplined in its uses.

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