Hacktivism

Historical Roots

The roots of computer hacking lie in the early development of computer networks and the Internet, beginning in the 1960s with the development of ARPANET, an early U.S. network that became the prototype of the Internet, which began to take shape during the 1970s and 1980s. By the 1990s, increasing numbers of computer users sought to acquire greater knowledge of computers and computer networks, to explore them creatively, and to identify and develop new ways of addressing the limitations of existing computer and network technology. These “hackers” developed a deep understanding of computers, software, and computer networks, as well as the ability to creatively explore and manipulate computer systems. The emergent hacker community developed an identifiable set of political and social values. The belief that information needs to be freely available became a core political value for the hacker community, along with the abolition of censorship, mistrust of authority, and opposition to anything that would limit the free flow of information. This evolving culture helped give rise to the free software movement and to the development of free and open source operating systems such as Linux.

Michelle Levesque has shown that, along with the growth of the hacker community, political activists were becoming more aware of the possibilities for integrating Internet technology into their already decentralized communication networks. Activist networks such as PeaceNet (one of the earliest examples of a text-based network that allowed activists to communicate simply and easily) evolved in parallel with the growth of the Internet. She writes that in recognition of the new possibilities for communication made possible by the Internet, more activist groups began to expand their communication networks to take advantage of the open architecture of the rapidly evolving Internet. Very quickly these activists realized that the Internet, and the communication technology that it made possible, was an excellent platform for reaching a vast audience and getting their message to them at little or no cost. The development of the Internet made it possible for activists and groups to communicate across national boundaries quickly and cheaply, and to reach vast new audiences.

The anonymous computer hacker and writer metacOm has argued that hacktivism represents the fusion of the evolution of computer activism with the politicization of hackers. As he also noted, the two communities complement each other because they face the same opposition through the repressive use of laws and technologies by governments and corporations to monitor and control the Internet.

The media has had a significant impact on affecting public understanding of hacktivism. Due in no small part to the role of the media in shaping popular discourse about hacktivism, there is considerable confusion over both the motivations and methods, and even the types of activities that are described as hacktivism. Conceptual confusion over terminology characterizes public understanding and awareness about hacktivism and, consequently, affects social policy. One source of confusion is the failure to distinguish effectively between hacktivism and “cracking.” As metacOm also noted, actions such as unauthorized access to computer systems, denial of service attacks, and defacement of websites have often been incorrectly labeled by media as instances of hacktivism, despite there being little evidence of a political motivation or goal for these actions. The key distinction then is that while hacktivism may encompass instances of breaking into computer systems, among other practices, there is a political motivation involved. As compared with hactivism, cracking involves hacking that is disruptive and lacks the political motive that can be seen in true hacktivism.

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