Hacktivism By Luci Locco

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HacktivismBy Luci Locco
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What is hacking?

• Although sometimes merely a harmless prank,
  hacking is a crime--and one with serious
  consequences.
•  The threat of punishment, however, rarely is a
  deterrent for many in the hacking community,
  because their motives for hacking matter more
  than the risk of being caught.

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So, what is Hacktivism?

• Hacktivism is hacking as a way to express a
  political view, protest a government's
  censorship of free speech, or bring examples of
  human rights violations into public view.

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• The new agenda of hackers is a kind of
  electronic civil disobedience that allows them
  to challenge authority using their computer
  skills.
• Their protest signs are the Web pages they post
  on hacked websites. The approach is effective
  and its use is on the rise, and becoming
  increasingly organized.

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Why is it used?

• Common advantages
• Access to extensive resources
• A global reach
• Speed
• Networking
• Low costs

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Examples

• The disturbing image of a dead child appeared on
  dozens of Web sites of U.S. and British
  companies.
• Usually done by anti-war human activists
• These particular attacks
• seemed to of appeared
• because of pro-Islamic
• hacker groups

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Convention Disruption

• Aided by a young radical computer hacker calling
  himself CrimethInc, a group of politically active
  hacktivists are plotting to disrupt the
  Republican convention electronically.
• Websites
• Email
• Servers
• Phones and fax lines
• Alter electronic
• billboards, etc.

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Mexican Government

• A group of hackers called X-pilot rewrote the
  home page of a Mexican government site to protest
  what they said were instances of government
  corruption and censorship.

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• US based group called Electronic Disturbance
  Theater targeted the website of Mexican President
  Ernesto Zedillo.
• Intended to protest the alleged mistreatment of
  Zapatista rebels in Chiapas.
• Nearly 8,000 people participated in the digital
  sit-in.
• Tried to overwhelm the Mexican Presidents web
  servers.

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Consequences

• FBI spokesman Bill Murray noted all forms of
  hacking, even those aligned with U.S. interests,
  are crimes. "It all falls under the category of
  illegal activity," he says.
• the FBI is staffing the new facility with the
  government's top security experts.
• grassroots effort is under way in Washington to
  establish a National Intrusion Center, modeled
  after the Centers for Disease Control.

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• Hackers can be prosecuted under the Computer
  Fraud and abuse Act of 1986 and several state
  laws, which will make it a crime to access or
  use a computer without authorization, to alter
  data in a computer without authorization, or to
  commit other acts with the intent of causing
  damage to the computer or data.

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Conclusion

• There are many instances where hacktivism is used
  to try to change the way things are for a better
  life. That is why this word was created. People
  arent just only doing this for kicks. They are
  trying to make changes occur so the governments
  will listen. It is the new protesting style, but
  with harsher consequences.

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Works Cited

• McKay, Niall (1998 Sept). The Golden Age of
  Hacktivism. Wired News, 1. Retrieved from
  http//www.wired.com/news/politics/0,1283,15129,0
  0.html
• Acohido, Byron (2003). Hacktivists protest war by
  attacking websites. USA Today, Money, 1.
  Retrieved October 22, 2004 from EBSCOhost
  database http//search.epnet.com/login.aspx?direc
  ttrueAuthTypeco
• okie,ip,url,uiddbaphanJ0E154496145903
• The Hacktivist (n.d.). Retrieved October 22, 2004
  from http//thehacktivist.com
• Corely, F., Hornemann, M. (2004 July). China
  Government blocks religious websites. Forum 18
  News Service. Retrieved from http//www.forum18.o
  rg/Archive.php?article_id366

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• Jedlicka, L. (2004). Computers in our world.
  Boston Thomson Learning.
• Hacker (2004 Nov). Wikipedia. Retrieved October
  22, 2004 from http//en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Hacker