Unorthodox Hacking: Addressing Sexism in Hacktivist Communities to Expand Options for Electronic Civil Disobedience
Public Deposited- Last Modified
- February 26, 2019
- Creator
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Curcelli, Giulia
- Affiliation: College of Arts and Sciences, Curriculum in Peace, War, and Defense
- Abstract
- With the proliferation of the computer over the past few decades, hacktivism—a form of activism through computer hacking—has become widespread on the international political stage, a critical aspect of cybersecurity, and an emerging question of the balance between free expression and national security. Public perception often frames hacktivists as malevolent practical jokers, but discourse is shifting to mirror hacktivists’ perceptions of themselves as fighters for justice and an open internet. Because cyberspace remains fresh and relatively legally unregulated, the constraints for this political participation continue to evolve. A subset of hacktivism is electronic civil disobedience. Academics have formed various frameworks for the translation of traditional civil disobedience to the cyber realm, viewing civil disobedience as an acceptable and healthy element of democracy. In contrast, the security industry largely derides hacktivism as wholly threatening. Academics have also begun to explore the links between gender and hacktivism, acknowledging the male hacker archetype and the disproportionately low number of women involved in hacking and technology. Building on existing frameworks for the translation of civil disobedience to the cyber realm, this analysis of electronic civil disobedience centers around three case studies that illustrate different types of and perspectives on ECD. In particular, I examine how the subjects of each case study do and do not talk about and experience gender, and how this influences their understanding of hacking and what should be considered electronic civil disobedience. This research bridges the gap between existing work on when hacktivism is electronic civil disobedience and the influence of gender on hacktivism. Currently, the views of hacking communities and legal professionals on what constitutes acceptable civil disobedience are fundamentally misaligned. What hackers see as legitimate, law enforcement sees as criminal. What law enforcement sees as acceptable civil disobedience, hackers do not see as hacking. Ultimately, I argue that electronic civil disobedience has more potential than its current use, but to increase its prevalence would require a shift in perspective by both government and practitioners of civil disobedience. The government does not distinguish between criminal and activist hacking but must begin to do so to treat electronic civil disobedience as true civil disobedience, affording sentences accordingly. On the part of hackers in particular, their perspectives are limited by their gendered view of technology, and dismantling sexism and patriarchy in tech communities will aid in this perspective shift.
- Date of publication
- spring 2017
- Keyword
- DOI
- Resource type
- Rights statement
- In Copyright
- Note
- Funding: None
- Advisor
- Castro, Sara
- Degree
- Bachelor of Arts
- Academic concentration
- Peace, War, & Defense
- Honors level
- Honors
- Degree granting institution
- University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill
- Graduation year
- 2017
- Language
- English
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- Parents:
This work has no parents.
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