Skip to main content

Home/ Digital Anthropology/ Group items tagged hacktivism

Rss Feed Group items tagged

Filter: All | Bookmarks | Topics Simple Middle
Jovan Maud

How Covert Agents Infiltrate the Internet to Manipulate, Deceive, and Destroy Reputatio... - 0 views

firstlook.org/...jtrig-manipulation

protest politics NSA surveillance public sphere hackers hacktivism

shared by Jovan Maud on 25 Feb 14 - No Cached
  • hat these agencies are attempting to control, infiltrate, manipulate, and warp online discourse, and in doing so, are compromising the integrity of the internet itself.
  • 1) to inject all sorts of false material onto the internet in order to destroy the reputation of its targets; and (2) to use social sciences and other techniques to manipulate online discourse and activism to generate outcomes it considers desirable.
  • In fact, the discussion of many of these techniques occurs in the context of using them in lieu of “traditional law enforcement” against people suspected (but not charged or convicted) of ordinary crimes or, more broadly still, “hacktivism”, meaning those who use online protest activity for political ends.
  • ...2 more annotations...
  • As Anonymous expert Gabriella Coleman of McGill University told me, “targeting Anonymous and hacktivists amounts to targeting citizens for expressing their political beliefs, resulting in the stifling of legitimate dissent.” Pointing to this study she published, Professor Coleman vehemently contested the assertion that “there is anything terrorist/violent in their actions.”
    • Jovan Maud
      Jovan Maud on 25 Feb 14
       
      N.B. Gabriella Coleman, anthropologist and author of "Coding freedom". 
  • Sunstein also proposed sending covert agents into “chat rooms, online social networks, or even real-space groups” which spread what he views as false and damaging “conspiracy theories” about the government. Ironically, the very same Sunstein was recently named by Obama to serve as a member of the NSA review panel created by the White House, one that – while disputing key NSA claims – proceeded to propose many cosmetic reforms to the agency’s powers (most of which were ignored by the President who appointed them).
  • Jovan Maud on 25 Feb 14
     
    A key issue in debates about how digital technologies are transforming political discourse. In this case, what new possibilities are open to states to manipulate opinion, spread misinformation and to discredit opponents?
1 - 1 of 1
Showing 20▼ items per page