tag:theconversation.com,2011:/nz/topics/aaron-swartz-4672/articlesAaron Swartz – The Conversation2021-06-29T15:18:43Ztag:theconversation.com,2011:article/1633292021-06-29T15:18:43Z2021-06-29T15:18:43ZA decade since ‘the year of the hacktivist’, online protests look set to return<figure><img src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/408871/original/file-20210629-18-e1dmb4.jpeg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&rect=0%2C0%2C3613%2C2400&q=45&auto=format&w=496&fit=clip" /><figcaption><span class="caption">
</span> <span class="attribution"><a class="source" href="https://www.shutterstock.com/image-photo/mulhouse-france-17-january-2019-vendetta-1287142978">NeydtStock/Shutterstock</a></span></figcaption></figure><p>Many of us vaguely remember the word “<a href="https://www.techopedia.com/definition/2410/hacktivism">hacktivism</a>” from a decade ago. This was a time before serious <a href="https://theconversation.com/ransomware-gangs-are-running-riot-paying-them-off-doesnt-help-155254">ransomware attacks</a> dominated current cybersecurity concerns, when certain hacking techniques were being used to send political messages to governmental and corporate entities.</p>
<p>Hacktivism has since <a href="https://www.darkreading.com/the-state-of-hacktivism-in-2020-/d/d-id/1338382">retreated</a> as a form of protest, in part due to the <a href="https://www.theguardian.com/technology/2013/jan/24/hacking-us-government-cyber-crackdown">prosecution</a> of prominent hacktivists, sometimes with what appear to be disproportionately <a href="https://theconversation.com/hactivists-arent-terrorists-but-us-prosecutors-make-little-distinction-45260">severe sentences</a>. But with the ongoing pandemic <a href="https://www.cityam.com/extinction-rebellion-cancels-london-protest-over-coronavirus/">restricting</a> physical protests <a href="https://www.thelancet.com/journals/lancet/article/PIIS0140-6736(21)01239-3/fulltext">globally</a>, and <a href="https://www.theguardian.com/uk-news/2021/jun/22/curbs-on-protests-in-policing-bill-breach-human-rights-laws-mps-and-peers-say">new bills</a> being drawn up to curb offline protest, it looks as if hacktivism may be set for a return.</p>
<p><a href="https://link.springer.com/chapter/10.1007%2F978-3-030-55841-3_4">My research</a> into hacktivism and cybercrime helps place hacktivism in its historical context – from which we can understand how, where and why hackers may soon resort once again to digital protest across the world.</p>
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Read more:
<a href="https://theconversation.com/beyond-hashtags-how-a-new-wave-of-digital-activists-is-changing-society-57502">Beyond hashtags: how a new wave of digital activists is changing society</a>
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<p>Hacktivism may have reached its peak a decade ago, but it’s been a feature of online activism since the <a href="https://foreignpolicy.com/2013/04/29/hacktivism-a-short-history/">early popularisation</a> of the internet. Major hacktivist groups, such as the <a href="https://www.britannica.com/topic/Electronic-Disturbance-Theater">Electronic Disturbance Theater</a>, the <a href="https://web.archive.org/web/20080226121652/http://www.networkworld.com/research/2000/0529feat2.html">Electrohippies</a> and <a href="https://www.hacktivismo.com/">Hacktivismo</a>, were already active in the late 1990s. <a href="http://oro.open.ac.uk/5089/">At the time</a>, they supported the <a href="https://theconversation.com/mexicos-masked-marxists-meet-the-zapatistas-21726">Zapatista</a> movement in Mexico, protested global wealth inequality and flagged security issues in popular software.</p>
<p>Even traditional activist groups – such as <a href="https://wayback.archive-it.org/9650/20200403205550/http://p3-raw.greenpeace.org/international/en/news/features/bhopal-protests-move-online/">Greenpeace</a> and the German anti-racist collective <a href="http://www.kein-mensch-ist-illegal.org/">Kein Mensch ist illegal</a> – were known to use hacktivist protest tactics long before its rise to global prominence. </p>
<p>In fact, Kein Mensch ist illegal led a “collective blockade” of Lufthansa’s website in 2001 to <a href="http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/world/europe/1399685.stm">protest</a> the airline’s cooperation with the German government’s deportation policies. <a href="https://edri.org/our-work/edrigramnumber4-11demonstration/">A Frankfurt Appeals court</a> would eventually rule that this hacktivist activity amounted to freedom of expression – not criminal activity – but this legal precedent was not followed by courts <a href="https://www.palgrave.com/gp/book/9783319717579">elsewhere</a>.</p>
<h2>Hacktivism’s heyday</h2>
<p>Hacktivism began attracting global attention when <a href="https://www.versobooks.com/books/2027-hacker-hoaxer-whistleblower-spy">Anonymous</a> – a loose collective of hackers, politicised internet users, trolls and pranksters – decided to focus on political issues. The collective targeted the <a href="https://www.cnet.com/news/anonymous-hackers-take-on-the-church-of-scientology/">Church of Scientology</a> for censoring online content in 2008, and mobilised to protect whistleblower websites such as <a href="https://www.pbs.org/newshour/science/deciphering-the-murky-world-of-hackers-supporting-wikileaks">WikiLeaks</a> in 2010, among <a href="https://resources.infosecinstitute.com/topic/a-history-of-anonymous/">various other</a> actions with national and international implications. The activities of Anonymous would eventually lead major cybersecurity companies to characterise 2011 as the “<a href="https://www.sophos.com/medialibrary/PDFs/other/SophosSecurityThreatReport2012.ashx">year of the hacktivist</a>”. </p>
<p>Soon, hacktivist groups were springing up across the world. Anonymous itself sported many national branches, and these groups contributed to common political struggles at the same time as weighing in during local uprisings. For instance, Anonymous took down dozens of the <a href="https://thehackernews.com/2012/12/anonymous-hit-egyptian-government.html">Egyptian government’s websites</a> in 2012 during the Arab Spring protests.</p>
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<p>This explosion in hacktivist activity did not go unpunished, despite the hacktivist claim that online protest is <a href="https://slate.com/technology/2010/12/pro-wikileaks-denial-of-service-attacks-just-another-form-of-civil-disobedience.html">as valid</a> as offline protest. Some hacktivists were found to violate cybercrime laws, such as the UK’s <a href="https://www.legislation.gov.uk/ukpga/1990/18/contents">Computer Misuse Act 1990</a>, and various protesters were prosecuted and convicted in <a href="https://www.theguardian.com/technology/2013/jan/24/anonymous-hackers-jailed-cyber-attacks">the UK</a> and <a href="http://sip-trunking.tmcnet.com/news/2011/09/01/5747845.htm">the US</a>. </p>
<p>Perhaps the most high-profile prosecution was that of the American internet wonder-kid <a href="https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=9vz06QO3UkQ">Aaron Swartz</a>, who’d bypassed university cybersecurity safeguards in an <a href="https://newrepublic.com/article/112418/aaron-swartz-suicide-why-he-broke-jstor-and-mit">attempt to download</a> and make public an entire database of academic papers. Swartz <a href="https://www.huffingtonpost.co.uk/entry/aaron-swartz-suicide_n_2462819?ri18n=true">died by suicide</a> in the lead up to his trial, bringing US cybercrime laws and their <a href="https://www.theguardian.com/technology/2013/jan/24/hacking-us-government-cyber-crackdown">aggressive enforcement</a> into question. </p>
<p>Nevertheless, cybercrime laws have only <a href="https://link.springer.com/chapter/10.1007%2F978-3-030-55841-3_4">intensified</a> in the years since, forcing hacktivists into a retreat. But their tactics remain effective and, given that the pandemic has restricted our capability to conduct physical protests <a href="https://reliefweb.int/report/world/year-covid-19-pandemic-s-impact-global-conflict-and-demonstration-trends">worldwide</a>, hacktivism could soon be redeployed as an alternative way of expressing dissent in the post-COVID era.</p>
<h2>Hacktivist tactics</h2>
<p><a href="http://www.alexandrasamuel.com/dissertation/pdfs/Samuel-Hacktivism-frontmatter.pdf">Traditionally</a>, hacktivists have tried to mimic offline forms of protest and civil disobedience, but in the online space. They’ve used website defacements, often called “<a href="https://www.sitepoint.com/graffiti-artists-internet/">internet graffiti</a>”, to scrawl political messages on targeted websites. And <a href="https://www.ncsc.gov.uk/collection/denial-service-dos-guidance-collection">denial of service</a> (DoS) attacks, which are designed to overwhelm a website with traffic in order to make it crash, are also common. Hacktivists often call these virtual sit-ins.</p>
<p>In contrast to internet graffiti, which can be facilitated by a single skilled hacker, virtual sit-ins require mass participation. That makes these protests far more democratically legitimate and impactful – as well as sharing the criminal liability among the virtual protesters. </p>
<p>I’ve highlighted the <a href="https://www.palgrave.com/gp/book/9783319717579">positive aspects</a> of these tactics in my research, praising how they bring citizen dissent into the online environment while globalising important political causes. But virtual sit-ins also have financial implications for the attacked organisations and <a href="https://www.palgrave.com/gp/book/9783319717579">systems</a>. Meanwhile, some commentators have criticised hacktivism as a form of empty “<a href="https://www.npr.org/templates/story/story.php?storyId=104302141&t=1624376009849">slacktivism</a>” which they say isn’t comparable to the political conscientiousness and resolution of street protests.</p>
<p>Although hacktivism in principle is all about promoting <a href="https://www.itpro.co.uk/hacking/30203/what-is-hacktivism">socially beneficial causes</a> while minimising harms, it can also become muddled with a less justifiable vigilantist rationale. For example, Anonymous members have in the past exposed the personal details of individuals such as <a href="https://www.theatlantic.com/national/archive/2011/09/anonymous-goes-after-pepper-spray-cops-personal-info/337447/">police officers</a>, which puts them and their families at risk. Meanwhile, the hacktivist group <a href="https://www.theguardian.com/technology/2013/may/16/lulzsec-hacking-fbi-jail">Lulzsec</a> has been known to target big organisations for the sake of the challenge, rather than for a political purpose. Finally, <a href="https://www.cnbc.com/2019/02/27/india-pakistan-online-war-includes-hacks-social-media.html">nationalist hacktivists</a> have historically been involved in cross-border hacker wars which has, in some cases, escalated into real-world violence.</p>
<h2>Hacktivism’s revival?</h2>
<p>Irrespective of these criticisms, one can’t help but think that in the new post-pandemic era, with all of us spending much <a href="https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/technology-55486157">more time online</a>, these political tactics could become popular again across the political spectrum. In fact, there have already been <a href="https://redrevolution.co.uk/2019/04/19/anonymous-declare-support-for-extinction-rebellion-in-italy-data-leaked-from-6-organizations/">activities</a> that indicate hacktivism may be becoming a side-tactic for groups such as <a href="https://extinctionrebellion.uk/2020/04/29/history-corner-how-murder-in-mexico-birthed-online-civil-disobedience/">Extinction Rebellion</a>, which has been reconsidering its future tactics in light of restrictions and <a href="https://www.theguardian.com/environment/2021/jun/26/12-arrested-raids-extinction-rebellion-london-protest">preemptive arrests</a>.</p>
<p>Hacktivism never went away entirely. Anonymous did in fact reemerge during the summer 2020 <a href="https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/technology-52879000">Black Lives Matter</a> protests, targeting police forces’ websites with hacks. But we’re still in a transitional period, with organised hacktivist efforts far less common than they were a decade ago.</p>
<p>Yet the stage seems set for a third wave of hacktivism. New protest movements are gradually gaining traction with the public, and hacktivist activity could make for a popular alternative to in-person civil disobedience in a period when many of us are still concerned about COVID-19 transmission. </p>
<p>As <a href="https://www.undp.org/press-releases/worlds-largest-survey-public-opinion-climate-change-majority-people-call-wide">environmental</a> and <a href="https://www.nytimes.com/interactive/2020/07/03/us/george-floyd-protests-crowd-size.html">anti-discrimination</a> movements grow internationally, and their underlying goals <a href="https://www.independent.co.uk/climate-change/news/george-floyd-protests-us-climate-change-strike-green-movement-a9544566.html">unite citizens</a> on a global scale, it’ll be fascinating to see whether hacktivist tactics can seriously contribute to galvanising change in an increasingly politicised world.</p><img src="https://counter.theconversation.com/content/163329/count.gif" alt="The Conversation" width="1" height="1" />
<p class="fine-print"><em><span>Vasileios Karagiannopoulos does not work for, consult, own shares in or receive funding from any company or organisation that would benefit from this article, and has disclosed no relevant affiliations beyond their academic appointment.</span></em></p>The hacktivist collective ‘Anonymous’ has become just that – but the hacktivism they espoused may be set to return.Vasileios Karagiannopoulos, Reader in Cybercrime and Cybersecurity, University of PortsmouthLicensed as Creative Commons – attribution, no derivatives.tag:theconversation.com,2011:article/122732013-03-08T04:18:51Z2013-03-08T04:18:51ZAaron’s Army fights the Trans-Pacific Partnership<figure><img src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/20571/original/frj86grf-1361759952.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=496&fit=clip" /><figcaption><span class="caption">The case of Aaron Swartz has put punitive intellectual property enforcement provisions under the spotlight. </span> <span class="attribution"><span class="source">Flickr</span></span></figcaption></figure><p>In light of the death of internet activist Aaron Swartz, there is a need to reconsider intellectual property enforcement standards in the Trans-Pacific Partnership.</p>
<p>The 16th round of the <a href="http://www.ustr.gov/tpp">Trans-Pacific Partnership</a> negotiations are taking place in Singapore until March 13. There have been concerns that the <a href="https://www.eff.org/deeplinks/2013/03/secretive-copyright-negotiations-continue-16th-round-tpp-talks">Intellectual Property Chapter</a> would “ratchet up IP enforcement at the expense of digital rights”. Maira Sutton of the Electronic Frontier Foundation fears that “the Trans-Pacific Partnership could turn Internet Service Providers into copyright cops, prompt ever-higher criminal and civil penalties for sharing content, and expand protections for Digital Rights Management”.</p>
<p>The case of Aaron Swartz highlights the need for a reconsideration of punitive and excessive intellectual property enforcement provisions in trade agreements.</p>
<p><strong>An Elegy for Aaron Swartz</strong></p>
<p>An advocate for open access to publicly-funded works, Swartz lamented that “the world’s entire scientific and cultural heritage, published over centuries in books and journals, is increasingly being digitized and locked up by a handful of private corporations”.</p>
<p>After downloading “protected” articles from the academic website JSTOR at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT), <a href="http://newmatilda.com/2013/01/16/swartz-death-tipping-point">Swartz was indicted in 2011 by Federal prosecutors on 13 charges</a>, including computer fraud and wire fraud. The <a href="http://www.justice.gov/usao/ma/news/2011/July/SwartzAaronPR.html">United States Attorney Carmen M. Ortiz</a> argued: “Stealing is stealing whether you use a computer command or a crowbar, and whether you take documents, data or dollars.” Swartz faced lengthy imprisonment, monetary fines, as well as forfeiture and restitution. Swartz took his own life in January this year. </p>
<p>The tragic case of Aaron Swartz has led to debate on the state of intellectual property law and information technology law - especially as he had campaigned against the <a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Stop_Online_Piracy_Act">Stop Online Piracy Act</a>. </p>
<p>In a powerful speech at Harvard Law School last month, Lawrence Lessig considered the case of Aaron Swartz, and highlighted the need for law reform in a number of areas:</p>
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<p>Lessig applauded the bipartisan efforts by Democrat Representative Zoe Lofgren and Republican Representative Darrell Issa to reform the <em>Computer Fraud and Abuse Act</em> 1984 (US) with <a href="http://www.reddit.com/r/IAmA/comments/17pisv/im_rep_zoe_lofgren_here_is_a_modified_draft/">Aaron’s Law</a>. He said there was need to reform copyright laws - such as the <em>Sonny Bono Copyright Term Extension Act</em> 1998 (US), as well as other absurd copyright legislation. Lessig also emphasised that there was a need to resist legislative efforts that sought to promote paywall protected gardens of educational and scientific content and restrict or restrain open access policies.</p>
<p>There has been also discussion of Aaron Swartz in the context of social disobedience. Citing the example of Thoreau, United States Senator Ron Wyden reflected on the case of Aaron Swartz, “Aaron was a hacker. He hacked to promote innovation through openness. Where Aaron saw injustice, he hacked for its remedy. Aaron Swartz hacked Washington. A poorly written law called him a criminal. Common sense and conscience knows better.”</p>
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<figcaption><span class="caption">Ron Wyden on Aaron Swartz.</span></figcaption>
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<p>There has been a Congressional investigation into the <a href="http://www.bostonglobe.com/news/politics/2013/02/05/deptartment-justice-brief-house-committee-aaron-swartz-prosecution/HPbdUw8GyRenI6z9ZBHEaJ/story.html">role of the prosecutors in the Aaron Swartz case</a>.</p>
<p>There has been much debate about the role of MIT in the controversy. The educational institution’s hard-won reputation for open teaching and open innovation has been somewhat tarnished by its involvement in the prosecution of Aaron Swartz. MIT has <a href="http://blogs.wsj.com/digits/2013/01/23/mits-letter-regarding-aaron-swartz-inquiry/">commissioned an independent investigation into the matter</a>. </p>
<p>The case of Aaron Swartz is certainly not limited in its significance to the United States. There has been a parallel debate over copyright law and open access in Australia - taking place both in copyright disputes, and policy debates.</p>
<p><strong>Aaron’s Army Liberates Bob the Builder</strong></p>
<p>As an elegy for Aaron Swartz, Carl Malamud gave a significant speech, a call-to-arms, called <a href="https://public.resource.org/aaron/army/">Aaron’s Army</a>. </p>
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<figcaption><span class="caption">Carl Malamud, Aaron’s Army.</span></figcaption>
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<p>He commented: “Do not think for a moment that Aaron’s work on JSTOR was the random act of a lone hacker, some kind of crazy, spur-of-the-moment bulk download.” </p>
<p>“Sequestering knowledge behind pay walls — making scientific journals only available to a few kids fortunate enough to be at fancy universities and charging $20 an article for the remaining 99% of us — was a festering wound.” </p>
<p>“Aaron was part of an army of citizens that believes democracy only works when the citizenry are informed, when we know about our rights — and our obligations”.</p>
<p>Public Resource.org has sought to make public documents available online in the United States. In February 2013, <a href="https://www.eff.org/press/releases/free-speech-battle-over-publication-federal-law">the Electronic Frontier Foundation defended Public Resource.org against claims that an online post of a 1985 federal standard on air-duct leakage infringed copyright</a>. Discussing <a href="http://archive.org/details/gov.uscourts.cand.263568/">the case</a>, Intellectual Property Director Corynne McSherry said: “We’re asking the judge today to let Public Resource continue its important work in increasing the public’s access to the laws and regulations that govern us.”</p>
<p>Aaron’s Army has also been busy in Australia. In December last year, Public Resource.org posted <a href="http://archive.org/details/au.ncc.2.2012">the Australian National Construction Code</a>, along with other public safety standards incorporated into law by nations around the world. </p>
<p>On 8 February, the Australian government responded, with a <a href="https://law.resource.org/images/rfcs/gov.au.20130207.pdf">copyright letter</a>. The Australian Building Codes Board responded that it was the owner of the copyright in the work, and had not provided permission for the work to be reproduced. The Board warned, “If you do not cease and desist from using our work, we may pursue action under the [Copyright] Act.”</p>
<p>On 10 February, <a href="https://law.resource.org/images/rfcs/gov.abcb.20130210.pdf">Public Resource responded, declining to remove the National Construction Code</a>. Public Resource commented: “We lawfully purchased the National Construction Code, and we have made it available on a noncommercial basis, because it is the right of all people to know and speak the laws that govern them.”</p>
<p>The conflict questions the efficacy of copyright exceptions, particularly the adequacy of “fair dealing”. The altercation addresses the role of the Commonwealth government in making publicly-funded documents, data, and knowledge available in open accessible formats.</p>
<p>Given the controversy over the Aaron Swartz case, it is surprising that the Commonwealth has entered into such a conflict over copyright law and public works.</p>
<p><strong>Aaron Swartz and Australian Law Reform</strong></p>
<p>The dispute raises important considerations in the debate over copyright law reform in Australia.</p>
<p>In the Australian Parliament, Senator Scott Ludlam paid tribute to Aaron Swartz:</p>
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<figcaption><span class="caption">A Tribute to Aaron Swartz by Senator Scott Ludlam.</span></figcaption>
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<p>Ludlam stressed: “In this tragic case we see an outdated copyright legal regime in the United States that has long ceased being fit for its purpose that is presently criminalising a whole generation of internet users…Certainly data, if it is being created by governments at taxpayers’ expense, should be in the public domain.”</p>
<p>The Australian Law Reform Commission should contemplate such matters in its inquiry into <a href="http://www.alrc.gov.au/inquiries/copyright-and-digital-economy">Copyright and the Digital Economy</a>. The actions of Aaron’s Army raises important questions about copyright law, and access to education, science, knowledge, government information.</p>
<p>The dispute over Aaron Swartz and the Australian controversy over Public Resource has raised larger questions about standards in respect of international trade agreements.
The <a href="http://www.ustr.gov/tpp">Trans-Pacific Partnership</a> has been controversial. A leaked draft of the <a href="http://keepthewebopen.com/tpp">Intellectual Property Chapter</a> has highlighted that an arsenal of intellectual property enforcement mechanisms are under negotiation. <a href="http://infojustice.org/washington-declaration-html">There has been much concern about the expansion of intellectual property rights and remedies</a> - and the impact that they will have on access to knowledge, freedom of speech, and rule of law.</p>
<p>The economist and journalist <a href="http://www.smh.com.au/opinion/politics/legal-anvil-hovers-over-the-unwary-tech-user-20130122-2d51x.html">Peter Martin</a>
observed: “The US is pushing for even more in negotiations under way over the <em>Trans-Pacific Partnership</em> trade agreement. We should say no.”</p>
<p>The case of Aaron Swartz should make us reconsider the inclusion of punitive intellectual property measures in both national laws, and international agreements, such as the <em>Trans-Pacific Partnership</em>.</p><img src="https://counter.theconversation.com/content/12273/count.gif" alt="The Conversation" width="1" height="1" />
<p class="fine-print"><em><span>Dr Matthew Rimmer is an Australian Research Council Future Fellow, working on Intellectual Property and Climate Change. He is an associate professor at the ANU College of Law, an associate director of the Australian Centre for Intellectual Property in Agriculture (ACIPA), and a member of the ANU Climate Change Institute. Dr Matthew Rimmer receives funding as an Australian Research Council Future Fellow working on "Intellectual Property and Climate Change: Inventing Clean Technologies" and a chief investigator in an Australian Research Council Discovery Project, “Promoting Plant Innovation in Australia”.</span></em></p>In light of the death of internet activist Aaron Swartz, there is a need to reconsider intellectual property enforcement standards in the Trans-Pacific Partnership. The 16th round of the Trans-Pacific…Matthew Rimmer, ARC Future Fellow and Associate Professor in Intellectual Property, Australian National UniversityLicensed as Creative Commons – attribution, no derivatives.