Authors: Anvith Potluri, Kevin Li, Kevin Nguyen, & Varad Thorat
Along with the proliferation of technology and political advocacy, there has been the rise of a particular combination of the two: hacktivism. By misusing a computer system to spread political activism or social change, the ethicality hacktivism is called into question. In many cases, the morality is not clear cut; while it may seem unethical at first glance, many acts of hacktivism have been praised and upholding ethicality.
Hacktivists, in short, are trying to accomplish social change through the tools that are quite unorthodox. For example, protesters in the Arab Spring utilized techniques to allow protestors to access the internet for their cause through DDos attacks on governmental websites. However, on the surface, these techniques seem to be extreme, and perhaps when not necessary, hacktivism can be seen as unethical.
However, there are some cases that blur the line. One example is Edward Snowden’s act of revealing that the government was engaging in surveillance on the general public. In a utilitarian point of view, this benefited the most people, as many people were now more aware of realities. Unfortunately, this act of activism got Snowden in trouble, but he was hailed as a hero by many.
In the end, while hacktivism can be very unethical as a means of achieving a goal, perhaps sometimes the benefits can outweigh the cons. As a method of achieving social change or promoting political activism, perhaps sometimes there is no better alternative. In that case, hacktivism can be seen as a valid option.
Sources
- Lohrmann, Dan. The Dramatic Rise in Hacktivism, Tech Crunch, February 22, 2017.
- Edward Snowden: the whistleblower behind the NSA surveillance revelations, The Guardian, June 9, 2013.
Ethics in Computer Science 