The typical image of a hacker is that of a solitary male in a dimly lit basement, typing away on his computer until the wee hours of the night. He is probably young and angry at someone, so he is hacking to fight some personal quest for justice.
This image is not necessarily a positive one, and it does not at all cover what it means to be a hacker. The hacking community is very much social, rather than solitary. There are hack-a-thons held regularly across the world. At the yearly, Chaos Communication Camp, hackers join together to fight the good fight.
They are hacktivists.
In the Digital Age, activism is not a dying art. In fact it is alive and well, though much of the movements have moved online. So what it Hacktivism? Getting back at the government through computer hacking.
These themes have even made appearances in pop culture. Cory Doctorow’s young adult novel, Little Brother, directly addresses the possibility for Hacktivism. Though set in a dystopian San Francisco, California, the novel highlights some aspects of government control that may already be influencing our lives. But it doesn’t stop there. Doctorow attempts to empower his readers to standup for our basic rights to privacy through explaining just how hacking and hacktivism can be a part of our every day lives.
This analytical hypertext covers Online Activism, or Hactivism. This topic is broad and so it will be divided into a few major sub categories. Hacktivism in Little Brother, What it is (The different types: Cyberattacks, campaigns, and wars), Purpose of Hacktivism, Examples (WikiLeaks, Blackouts, Arab Spring, Cyber Protests against World Bank, etc.).