Hacktivism 1-2-3: how privacy enhancing technologies change the face of anonymous hacktivism

This short essay explores how the notion of hacktivism changes due to easily accessible, military grade Privacy Enhancing Technologies (PETs). Privacy Enhancing Technologies, technological tools which provide anonymous communications and protect users from online surveillance enable new forms of onl...

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Main Author: Balázs Bodó
Format: Article
Language:English
Published: Alexander von Humboldt Institute for Internet and Society 2014-11-01
Series:Internet Policy Review
Subjects:
Online Access:https://policyreview.info/node/340
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author Balázs Bodó
author_facet Balázs Bodó
author_sort Balázs Bodó
collection DOAJ
description This short essay explores how the notion of hacktivism changes due to easily accessible, military grade Privacy Enhancing Technologies (PETs). Privacy Enhancing Technologies, technological tools which provide anonymous communications and protect users from online surveillance enable new forms of online political activism. Through the short summary of the ad-hoc vigilante group Anonymous, this article describes hacktivism 1.0 as electronic civil disobedience conducted by outsiders. Through the analysis of Wikileaks, the anonymous whistleblowing website, it describes how strong PETs enable the development of hacktivism 2.0, where the source of threat is shifted from outsiders to insiders. Insiders have access to documents with which power can be exposed, and who, by using PETs, can anonymously engage in political action. We also describe the emergence of a third generation of hacktivists who use PETs to disengage and create their own autonomous spaces rather than to engage with power through anonymous whistleblowing.
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spelling doaj-art-947526f847fd40b4aa3b2e397b5ed57a2025-08-20T03:16:04ZengAlexander von Humboldt Institute for Internet and SocietyInternet Policy Review2197-67752014-11-013410.14763/2014.4.340Hacktivism 1-2-3: how privacy enhancing technologies change the face of anonymous hacktivismBalázs Bodó0University of AmsterdamThis short essay explores how the notion of hacktivism changes due to easily accessible, military grade Privacy Enhancing Technologies (PETs). Privacy Enhancing Technologies, technological tools which provide anonymous communications and protect users from online surveillance enable new forms of online political activism. Through the short summary of the ad-hoc vigilante group Anonymous, this article describes hacktivism 1.0 as electronic civil disobedience conducted by outsiders. Through the analysis of Wikileaks, the anonymous whistleblowing website, it describes how strong PETs enable the development of hacktivism 2.0, where the source of threat is shifted from outsiders to insiders. Insiders have access to documents with which power can be exposed, and who, by using PETs, can anonymously engage in political action. We also describe the emergence of a third generation of hacktivists who use PETs to disengage and create their own autonomous spaces rather than to engage with power through anonymous whistleblowing.https://policyreview.info/node/340HacktivismPrivacy enhancing technologiesAnonymousWikileaks
spellingShingle Balázs Bodó
Hacktivism 1-2-3: how privacy enhancing technologies change the face of anonymous hacktivism
Internet Policy Review
Hacktivism
Privacy enhancing technologies
Anonymous
Wikileaks
title Hacktivism 1-2-3: how privacy enhancing technologies change the face of anonymous hacktivism
title_full Hacktivism 1-2-3: how privacy enhancing technologies change the face of anonymous hacktivism
title_fullStr Hacktivism 1-2-3: how privacy enhancing technologies change the face of anonymous hacktivism
title_full_unstemmed Hacktivism 1-2-3: how privacy enhancing technologies change the face of anonymous hacktivism
title_short Hacktivism 1-2-3: how privacy enhancing technologies change the face of anonymous hacktivism
title_sort hacktivism 1 2 3 how privacy enhancing technologies change the face of anonymous hacktivism
topic Hacktivism
Privacy enhancing technologies
Anonymous
Wikileaks
url https://policyreview.info/node/340
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