Firebrand Waves of Digital Activism 1994- 2014: The Rise and Spread of Hacktivism and Cyberconflict
Speaker: Dr Athina Karatzogianni (Leicester)
This talk introduces four waves of in digital activism and cyberconflict. The rise of digital activism started in 1994, was transformed by the events of 9/11, culminated in 2011 with the Arab Spring uprisings, and entered a transformative phase of control, mainstreaming and cooptation since 2013 with the Snowden revelations.
The rationale for these phases is solely based on political effects, rather than technological or developmental determinants. This talk will provide a brief overview of the first (1994-2001) and second phase (2001-2007) of digital activism and cyberconflict arguing that the mainstreaming of digital activism will render it ineffective and inconsequential in the long term. Digital activism is likely to enter a phase of mainstreaming as ‘politics as usual’: an established element in the fabric of political life with no exceptional qualities, normalized and mainstreamed by governments through collaboration with corporations and the cooptation of NGOs. Cyberconflict will revolve more around high-level information warfare of attacking infrastructure, rather than just using ICTs to mobilise or as a weapon for low-level societal largely symbolic attacks. The higher level character of conflict in digital networks will intensify to the extent that digital activism and cyberconflict of the last two decades shall pale by comparison.
Convenor: Dr Olu Jenzen, College of Arts & Humanities, email: o.jenzen@brighton.ac.uk