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https://doi.org/10.17645/mac.v3i2.281

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The role of hackers in countering surveillance and promoting democracy

[journal article]

Kubitschko, Sebastian

Abstract

Practices related to media technologies and infrastructures (MTI) are an increasingly important part of democratic constellations in general and of surveillance tactics in particular. This article does not seek to discuss surveillance per se, but instead to open a new line of inquiry by presenting q... view more

Practices related to media technologies and infrastructures (MTI) are an increasingly important part of democratic constellations in general and of surveillance tactics in particular. This article does not seek to discuss surveillance per se, but instead to open a new line of inquiry by presenting qualitative research on the Chaos Computer Club (CCC) - one of the world's largest and Europe's oldest hacker organizations. Despite the longstanding conception of hacking as infused with political significance, the scope and style of hackers' engagement with emerging issues related to surveillance remains poorly understood. The rationale of this paper is to examine the CCC as a civil society organization that counter-acts contemporary assemblages of surveillance in two ways: first, by de-constructing existing technology and by supporting, building, maintaining and using alternative media technologies and infrastructures that enable more secure and anonymous communication; and second, by articulating their expertise related to contemporary MTI to a wide range of audiences, publics and actors. Highlighting the significance of "privacy" for the health of democracy, I argue that the hacker organization is co-determining "interstitial spaces within information processing practices" (Cohen, 2012, p. 1931), and by doing so is acting on indispensable structural features of contemporary democratic constellations.... view less

Keywords
data; democracy; monitoring; electronic media; hacker; privacy; data protection; communication technology; information technology; civil society

Classification
Information and Documentation, Libraries, Archives
Interactive, electronic Media
Technology Assessment
Media Politics, Information Politics, Media Law

Document language
English

Publication Year
2015

Page/Pages
p. 77-87

Journal
Media and Communication, 3 (2015) 2

Issue topic
Surveillance: critical analysis and current challenges (part I)

ISSN
2183-2439

Status
Published Version; peer reviewed

Licence
Creative Commons - Attribution


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Home  |  Legal notices  |  Operational concept  |  Privacy policy
© 2007 - 2025 Social Science Open Access Repository (SSOAR).
Based on DSpace, Copyright (c) 2002-2022, DuraSpace. All rights reserved.