lecure #10 - transnational hacker networks Flashcards
conclusion
- hacktivism is one modality of online collective action, caracterized by non-violent disruptive methods
- it finds it roots in hacker culture and social movements aimed at the diffusion of free media
- hacktivism can be understood in the framework of transnational social movements
- transnational social movements are made possible by: framing, repertoires of contention, mobilizing structures, political opportunity structures
how are Transnational Social Movements (TSMs) made possible? how are they succesful?
!!most important
- framing: you need a narrative of what you are doing
- repertoires of contention: you need to have possible actions
- mobilizing structures
- political opportunity structures
these agreements are necessary for a movement to be succesfull
social change -> mobilizing structures + political opportunity structure -> framing -> repertoires
historical background hacktivism, piracy and cyber-crime
- 1975-1985: NWICO
media was controlled/sanctioned by government ->
NWICO = right to information as human right -> need for new world information and communication order (NWICO) - 1985-1995 (Velletri Agreement, Bulleting Board Systems, GNU/Linux) = free software movement + more use
PC -> idea of networking computer + using them for political purposes
Velletri Agreement: potential for new technology for social development
BBS: posting system on server (took a day to get replies) = beginning electronic communication
GNU/Linux free ideal (also in operating the system): making software available to everyone (idea that we shouldn’t let companies dictate what we use: it takes away digital freedom) - 1995-2005: Zapata to Wikileaks
actors embrace digital tools to globalize their methods
Zapata + Wikileaks
defining hacktivism
- online hacktivism
- cyber-terrorism
- hacktivism
hacktivism is: online, transgressive, political
- hacking = apolitical
- cyberterrorism = violent
- online activism = conventional
- civil disobedience = offline
hacktivism = nonviolent use of illegal or legally ambiguous digital tools in pursuit of political ends
social movement theory
we have theories to understand how revolutions happen + what happens when a lot of people are angry about something and come together
- movements that are different, but in some ways similar
hacktivism, NGO activism, terrorism
Sidney G. Tarrow
'’power in movement’’
gives fundamental tools to understand why some movements work and some don’t
what is a social movement?
- Tarrow
episodic, collective interaction among makers of claims and their objects when
a. at least one government is a claimant, an object of claims, or a party to the claims
b. the claims would, if realized, affect the interests of at least one of the claimants
what are transnational social movements?
- Tarrow
socially mobilized groups with constituents in at least two states, engaged in sustained contentious interaction with powerholders in at least one state other than their own, or against an international institutions, or a multinational economic actor
global framing
definition: the use of external symbols to orient local or national claims
ideological framework
non-politics:
!some movements: people are upset with the idea of having a clear ideology: sometimes they are doing it for the ‘‘Lulz’’
'’propaganda by the deed’’: if we start doing things, people will follow (e.g. terrorists believe there is a group ready to rise up, it only needs a spark)
transnational repertoires of contention
definition: set of various protest-related tools and actions available to a movement or related organization in a given time frame
- hacktivism: defacements, website redirects, denial-of-service attacks (DDoS) (everyone tries to acces->it will fail)
transnational mobilizing structures
definition: a resource which allows contentious acts to be sustained as social movemens, and which ‘‘bring people together int he field, shape coalitions, confront opponents, and assure their own future after the exhilaration of the peak of mobilization has passed’’
this is essential for sustained mobilization, it needs to be institutionalized to last
- there need to be some people committed for a longer amount of time, you need support (offline)
cloud protesting = online existing online
international political opportunity structures
window of opportunity : the right time
definition = exogenous factors which limit or empower collective actors
- political environment: openness of political system, elite allignment stability, elite allies or not, state’s coercive power
- technical possibilities
