I would like to start by pointing out a question that I have asked several people over the last two weeks. "What comes to mind when you think of hacking or hacktivism?" Almost every answer I hear is, "do you mean China or those guys in funny masks?" This response has been scratching at my curiosity over what people define as hacking and what exactly is hacktivism. Upon searching Google for a little while I came upon the Ic3 or the Internet Crime Complaint Center's website. Ic3 is joint venture between the FBI, the National White Collar Crime Center and the Bureau of Justice Assistance. Funny enough, according to the 2010 Ic3 report the United States was responsible for a whopping 65.9% of online perpetrators. Where was China on the list? How about number 5 accounting for only 3.1%. On a side note, the 2011 report does not detail perpetrators by country, maybe because of embarrassment. We'll see what they say for 2012. With so many hackers in one of the worlds richest economies, are credit card numbers and fake
second mortgages their only motivation?
Well, this leads me into my discussion of hacktivism, or the use of computers and computer networks to promote political ends, chiefly free speech, human rights, and information ethics. This definition was taken from Wikipedia, however an outdated definition of hacktivism can found on the Cambridge Online Dictionary. This is the land of the free, and we do have that little 1st amendment that seems to infuriate leaders worldwide. According to Internet World Stats by Nielsen Online, there were almost 2.5 billion people online worldwide in the second quarter of 2012. So the question is, in this time of people living online do we need hacktivists? Do people really know what groups like Anonymous, WikiLeaks (remember those guys), and Lulzsec have exposed and brought forth into public view? In an age where government Internet censorship is at all time high, do we need rogue reporting and exposure to find the real truth in things? Is the power possessed by these groups too much, posing possible real threats to regular civilians? I would like to dive into this question by looking at hacktivism reports and statistics from around the world. For now, I will leave you with this YouTube excerpt from a CNN report about the group Anonymous.
Well, this leads me into my discussion of hacktivism, or the use of computers and computer networks to promote political ends, chiefly free speech, human rights, and information ethics. This definition was taken from Wikipedia, however an outdated definition of hacktivism can found on the Cambridge Online Dictionary. This is the land of the free, and we do have that little 1st amendment that seems to infuriate leaders worldwide. According to Internet World Stats by Nielsen Online, there were almost 2.5 billion people online worldwide in the second quarter of 2012. So the question is, in this time of people living online do we need hacktivists? Do people really know what groups like Anonymous, WikiLeaks (remember those guys), and Lulzsec have exposed and brought forth into public view? In an age where government Internet censorship is at all time high, do we need rogue reporting and exposure to find the real truth in things? Is the power possessed by these groups too much, posing possible real threats to regular civilians? I would like to dive into this question by looking at hacktivism reports and statistics from around the world. For now, I will leave you with this YouTube excerpt from a CNN report about the group Anonymous.
This inquiry project looks good! Can you define "hacktivism" for us and explain whether this is the same as hacking or something else?
ReplyDeleteI, for one, have heard of hacking but not "hacktivism."
The Cambridge Dictionary lists the definition of Hacktivism as:
ReplyDeletethe activity of using computers to try to achieve political change, for example by attacking websites or illegally entering another computer system:
Hacktivism is one of the key threats that organizations face today.
But I don't really like this definition because it leans towards cyber warfare and not as much activism.
The Google supported definition by Wiki is:
Hacktivism (a portmanteau of hack and activism) is the use of computers and computer networks to promote political ends, chiefly free speech, human rights, and information ethics.
This definition seems a little more politically correct and not so much like a story on Fox news.
I like you topic idea and look forward to reading your finding on the topic of hacktivism and hacking.
ReplyDeleteOne thing I would like to point out is I had trouble following your writing because of the layout of the entry window there was only one paragraph and I think if you broke it up into several paragraphs the post would flow better.