Hacktivism

What exactly is hacktivism? Hacktivism is a kind of activism and is a way of advancing a cause or staging a protest by hacking into the opponents computer systems or websites. This can take the place of other forms of activism such as writing letters and demonstrations. I actually never even knew there was an exact name for this type of activism until this week's readings. I knew that it existed in the world because of all the advancements in technology and because of the billions of people who use the internet. However, I never knew that there existed an exact name and definition for the process. But, after reading the articles for this week, one article really caught my attention and it actually disturbed me because I am a big animal/pet person.

After reading Tom Downey's article from the New York Times, Chinas Cyberpose, I was shocked that there are people actually in the world who would do something like this, and let alone post it on the Internet so that everyone can see. The video contained a Chinese woman smiling and then dropping a cat to the ground and stomping on it continuously with their heeled shoes. Another new term that I just learned from Tom Downey is , human-flesh search, which means "a form of online vigilante justice in which the Internet users hunt down and punish people who have attracted their wrath." This video appeared on the air in 2006, but there are numerous videos that have attracted people to punish the creators of many videos.

When I first read and learned what hacktivism was, it sounded immoral to me and inappropriate. However, once I read Chinas Cyperpose, my opinion sort of changed. Does this lady who did this vicious act deserved to be hunted down and punished by people she doesn't know? She should of thought of this before she did this evil act and posted it on the Internet for the rest of cyberspace to see. Users on the Internet did everything in their power to find out who this lady was, where she lived, and where she worked. Downey wrote about the cat-killer case that, "After they found this out, they tracked her down and she ended up losing her job, and left town." "The kitten-killer case didn't just provide revenge; it helped turn the human-flesh search engine into a national phenomenon."

Is hactivism an effective means of protest or achieving justice? I guess it just depends on what the reason for it is. In this case involving the kitten-killer, I believe that it is an effective means of protest. Not only did it teach the people who made the video a lesson, but it also showed other viewers that some people will do anything they can in their power to get revenge. If somebody is gonna post something explicit or violent on the Internet for others to see, then they must be responsible for their actions. The Internet is advancing so much that it is getting easier and easier to track somebody down on the Internet even through a simple video post or comment. In a way it seems to violate civil or human rights, but there are a lot of things that violate human rights that still goes on in everyday life.

I can tell you right now that there will continue to be different forms of political protests on the Internet. There are so many protests taking place on the Internet already, but I believe that there will continue to be much more protests over the net. I don't necessarily believe though that consequences will take place until something happens that is VERY VERY controversial and it reaches different news agencies. Hacktivism reminds me of the court case Zeran v. AOL, which is about what someone posts on the Internet and whether the Internet provider is to blame or the actual poster. In this case, the court ruled that the person who posts the material is to blame and not the provider.

http://www.techlawjournal.com/courts/zeran/Default.htm This is the link

containing the summary of the Zeran v. AOL trial. As soon as I started to read about hacktivism,

this is the first thing that popped into my head. Do any of you guys agree? Do you think it sounds

familiar? Do you think a case regarding hacktivism will happen within the Supreme Court? Let me

know your thoughts!