Activism vs. Vadalism, Digitally speaking

Howdy sports fans (this is here to stay), I know I've been away but I'll try and be better. Having said that I realise how often I say that and don't fully go through. Please don't hate me *cute face*. Moving on, let's talk about the difference between digital activism and digital vandalism. Let's start off by talking about a term I hate, which you will know is a long list, if you have been reading my blog. More to the point todays hated word is "hacktivism."

Hacktavism is a portmanteau of "hacking" and "activism" and is basically "activism by means of hacking." Which basically a roundabout way of saying "the (perceived good) ends justify the (blatantly wrong) means." The basic idea is that you, as a hacktavist, hack somebody/something to make a point or a statement, but really you are pretty much doing this. Yes, that sketch does exaggerate for comic effect, but you get the point.

Of course, the very first thing that comes to most people's minds when they hear the word hacktivist is Anonymous. I have written about some of their activities before and as you may or may not know, I'm not really a fan. They started of playing pranks on people and general trolling, which was OK by me. They said we are doing just for lulz (yea LulSec also has the same kind of problem). Then they got a bit more political and most recently, but I still think that they are being a tad juvenile about it.

"But, then what is the grown up thing to do?" you may be asking, oh intrepid reader. Well, let me tell you. There was, and is still some, raging going on about SOPA/PIPA (yes, yes, I'm going to write more about this, after I've done more reading) and quite rightly so. People sent letters to their senators, congressmen/congresswomen and representatives and registered protests in the conventional way. And, then something magical happened - a proper online protest: the SOPA blackout.

Basically a large number of websites, big and small, replaced all their content with a black page explaining what they are protesting and why. Some people didn't get the memo, so this happened, but overall I think it was a success. Almost instantly a SOPA/PIPA lost a lot of support and were then shelved. Normal service resumed the next day and everybody was happy. In all of this, nothing illegal was done and nobody was harmed, inconvenienced maybe, but no real harm was done.


Compare that to the very next day when Kim Dotcom (Who goes and changes their surname to Dotcom? I mean really? Does he want to be mocked?) et al. were arrested and what Anonymous did. They took down the websites for , which is whole other kettle of fish. This is basically vandalism, even though it is not the standard defacement type of vandalism you may be thinking of, but the point still stands. Not to mention the fact that it is illegal, but well. 

Unfortunately, law enforcement really has no idea to deal with these kinds of digital vandals, due to several reasons. I'm not sure there is an easy solution to this, but who knows? So, in short, you can protest via digital means, but there is a right way and a wrong way to do it and sadly the wrong way is more prevalent.