The Influence Of Hacktivism

The government is a group of people with the authority to govern a country or state as said in Oxford dictionaries. Therefore the government has effect on the whole country including companies, economies, and most importantly the people. The government is run for the people, by the people. Activism likewise is also made use of, for the people, by the people. However, a fairly recent form of activism has been increasingly used- Hacktivism. Hacktivism is when technology is used to promote or make a social change, as said in the New york Times by Peter Ludlow, a professor of philosophy at Northwestern University. To use hacktivism, to impact or influence the government, is one of the few ways hacktivists can make a lasting change.

Not only did protesters take to the street, but also to the digital world. Protesters resorted to facebook, and skype to organize rallies, in order to avoid their cell phones being tapped into. However the governments further strengthened online surveillance and censorship. This is where the hacktivists came in. They provided people with ways of communicating, while still trying to crack the government’s software, in order to restore blocked sites. For instance, Telecomix a leaderless organization similar to Anonymous provided support to the protestors when Mubarak’s government blocked the internet in Egypt. They set up dial up connections using two servers and then faxed the numbers to universities and coffee shops in Egypt. Telecomix hacktivists believe that they are doing an extremely important job of keeping the internet accessible to everyone. Lewis, a hacktivist working with Telecomix is doing this job because he has a” strong conviction that the internet should be open to everyone”. According to the ideals of hacktivists helping out with the Arab Spring is to follow the ideals. The main purpose of the hacktivists was to provide internet access to the citizens. Syrian traditional activists such as Brett Solomon, president of the digital human rights group Access Now believe that Telecomix crosses a line we wouldn’t be comfortable crossing,”. “But sometimes it takes someone like Telecomix to put a spanner in the works.” "The Telecomix team helps us, emotionally and physically. They give us advice on how to be safe on the internet, dos and don'ts, and they help us to spread the word," wrote a Syrian protestor via encrypted email. "[Telecomix] are like one family and they are always there for support and assistance. They are people [with] a high degree of humanity and responsibility.""I just fear for the people that they are