week 7

Question 1

Hacktivism

Answer 1

nonviolent use of illegal or legally ambigious digital tools in pursuit of political ends

Question 2

key elements of hacktivism

Answer 2

1. the need of supporting an ideology or cause,
2. the Internet as a necessary infrastructure that allows the activity and as target of an attack,
3. desire for any group/individual to promote a sociopolitical agenda that should either lead to change or keep status quo.

Question 3

Taxonomy by Jordan and Taylor

Answer 3

mass action (combination of politics and technology) vs. digitally correct hacktivism (political application of hacking to the infrastructure of cyberspace)

Question 4

Taxonomy by Samuel

Answer 4

hacktivism as
1. political cracking (origins in dichotomy between hacking and cracking)
2. performative hacktivism (legally vague),
3. political coding (creation/development of software meant for political uses)

Question 5

cyborg activism

Answer 5

defined by the continuous process of reconfiguration of the modern binaries of equality/hierarchy,reason/emotion and nihilism/idealism

Question 6

cyberterrorism

Answer 6

distinguished by:
1. lack of physical harm or severe disruption of vital infrastructure,
2. fear in the victim of attack and other individuals/organization that might be influenced,
3. different use of preset label to identity nature of action

Question 7

state-sponsored hacktivism

Answer 7

interaction between hacktivists that voluntarily embrace the national cause and governments that subsidize/support/motivate them to hack

Question 8

hacktivist techniques

Answer 8

1. DoS, DDos, Virtual Sit-ins
2. cyber trespass
3. website defacements
4. data theft/leak
5. website redirect

Question 9

digital activism

Answer 9

contentious forms of political action by citizens engaging in political structures and using some element(s) of digital technology

Question 10

technological determinism

Answer 10

agency for socio-technical change is assigned to technology itself, while inscribing change with both inevitability and progress

Question 11

technological sublime

Answer 11

the overwhelming sense of wonder experienced in connection to technological progress

Question 12

technological mysticism

Answer 12

quasi- and post-religious discourse, definged as faith in the universal efficacy of technology

Question 13

Technologies of last resort

Answer 13

technology is employed in a context where all else fails

Question 14

the digital witness

Answer 14

brings the distant Other closer by acting as a voice to the voiceless or as a window into other peoples’ lives

Question 15

the double-edged sword

Answer 15

presence of both ill- and well-intended actors; government/surveillance aiming to identify and target activists, or slacktivists/clicktivists who risk the cause by superficial engagement

Question 16

the vernacular creativity of digital activism

Answer 16

creative development of re-appropriation of technology in activism

Question 17

the enablers of horizontalism

Answer 17

as an alternative to top-down structures, a decentralized network that facilitates grassroots political engagement