Computer Hacktivism Does More Good Than Harm
PRO (6 arguments)
Define:
Hacktivism: a policy of hacking or creating technology to nonviolently achieve a political or social goal
Remember: Some of the Opposition’s evidence is not necessarily “hacktivism”; There must be a political or social message; if not, it’s just “cyber terrorism”
A Reference:
Comparing hacktivism to physical protests and activism
When comparing hacktivism to protests on the streets, hacktivism is infinitely better. Hacktivism is a way for people to protest online, non-violently… while learning about computers. Whereas in protests, you have hordes of people destroying things, littering on the street, fighting the police force, and occasionally even shooting each other, hacktivism is much more peaceful and no one dies.
Hacktivism is simply a way of sending a nonviolent message to people through the Internet. Certain hacktivism groups can help the public by using their skills to send such a message.
In this past October, Hacktivism group Anonymous infiltrated and knocked some 40 child pornography Web sites offline. The group also said it published the names of visitors to one of the sites. The list, Anonymous said, is fair game for authorities to use in cases against illegal child pornography sites and their visitors.
"If the FBI, Interpol, or other law enforcement agency should happen to come across this list, please use it to investigate and bring justice to the people listed here," the group said.
The Daily Mail (UK Newspaper), Simply Security (online news)
Governments do not have the right to hide secrets from their people. Some acts of hacktivism encourage governments to release the truth to the public. In every single situation, having a government tell the truth to the people is good, as it aids government transparency and prevents secrecy.
A website called Wikileaks is widely known around the world for its ability to expose government secrets. Using hacktivists, Wikileaks is able to tap into hidden confidential government information and expose the truth to the public. WikiLeaks posted its first document in December 2006, a decision to assassinate government officials signed by an infamous Somalian terrorist (Shekh Hassan Dahir Aweys). In August 2007, The Guardian published a story about corruption by the family of the former Kenyan leader Daniel Moi based on information provided via WikiLeaks. In February 2008, WikiLeaks released allegations of illegal activities at the Cayman Islands branch of the Swiss Bank Julius Baer. As you can see, not only does Wikileaks expose the secrets hidden by major business corporations and governments, but it also reveals their illegal actions. Hacktivism helps transparency as well as expose lies or illegal actions.
The New Yorker, The Australian, The New York Times
Hacktivism is not the problem here. Hacktivism is actually the only mountain peak protruding from a cloud of lies and fake propaganda. Hacktivism is 100% honest, doesn’t make up the stuff that it posts, and exposes terrible lies. The stuff that hacktivists does post, however, are the real problem here, and this is the problem that hacktivism is trying to eradicate.
Google’s CEO, Eric Schmidt, said recently about privacy and misdeeds, “If you have something you don’t want anyone to know, maybe you shouldn’t be doing it in the first place.”
Hacktivism is simply activism over the Internet. It’s just protesting of the future. Rather than go out on the streets with hand-made signs like older times, people can simply protest over the Internet. Plus, hacktivism is the better alternative, as it is more efficient, quicker, can reach a lot more people through the internet, and doesn’t turn into violence as the Occupy Oakland protests have.
In the 1990s, with the growth of the Internet and the World Wide Web, came denial of service attacks to protest a wide variety of causes such as Mexico's treatment of Zapatistas, French nuclear testing and wide-ranging computer attacks between Israeli and Palestinian supporters during the second Intifada.
Hacktivism has been developing since the dawn of computers. It came with our technological advances. Just as our technology brings us closer to a more developed future, so does the concept of hacktivism.
Hacktivism allows the common person to take a stand. No lengthy voting process and signing useless petitions to Congress that get lost in the mail. Instead, hacktivism is a powerful political tool people can wield to get things done. Hacktivism gets results, forcing people to turn their head and acknowledge certain issues. The very fact that we are debating about hacktivism shows its influence.
Nowadays, the average person is empowered with a resource called the Internet, and a very powerful one. Now, people can have their righteous voices heard to billions of people across the globe. Hacktivism isn’t picking up a protest sign, marching around in the cold for an hour, and shouting up to the sky. Hacktivism is actual change, it makes progress, and, as the Internet Revolution has clearly shown us, has the power to clearly change the world for the better.
CNN Article entitled, “We The People Now Know”