Hacktivism and the Future of Political Participation

„Hacktivism and the Future of Political Participation“ ist eine spannende Dissertation von Alexandra Samuel aus Vancouver, die sie heute als PDF online veröffentlicht hat.

The dissertation looks at the phenomenon of hacktivism: the marriage of political activism and computer hacking. It defines hacktivism as the nonviolent use of illegal or legally ambiguous digital tools in pursuit of political ends. These tools include web site defacements, redirects, denial-of-service attacks, information theft, web site parodies, virtual sit-ins, virtual sabotage, and software development.

Based on fifty-one interviews with people who are directly or indirectly involved in hacktivism, the dissertation is the first interview-based study of hacktivists and hacktivist practices. It uses the interview data in conjunction with additional primary and secondary source material to construct a taxonomy of hacktivism, and to apply the taxonomy to three core issues in political participation: the role of identity incentives in driving participation, the transnational politics of policy circumvention, and the aspirations for deliberative democracy online.

Kann gut sein, dass sie mich auch dafür befragt hat. Ich erinnere mich noch an eine Frau aus Vancouver, die mal vor drei bis vier Jahren in Berlin war, und ein Interview mit mir zu dem Thema geführt hat.