The phenomenon of hacktivism
The author deals with the politically motivated disruptions on the Internet. She defines hacktivism as the nonviolent use of illegal or legally ambiguous digital tools in pursuit of political ends. The hacktivism combines transgressive politics of civil disobedience with the technologies and techniques of computer hackers. Hactivists' political agendas are including campaigns against globalization, encryption regulations, government political repression, abortion, and electronic surveillance. The result has been the rapid explosion and diffusion of a digital repertoire of political transgression, harnessed to a wide range of political causes.