Democracy and the hacker movement: Information technologies and political action

In order to understand how technology may influence democratic practice, it is necessary to understand the values of those who are creating and shaping technology because those who create technology instill within those technologies particular values. Hackers comprise one group that has a significant role in the creation and shaping of technology. As the United States moves closer toward becoming an information society, the hacker is a figure that embodies both peril and promise. If technology is to revolutionize democratic practice, citizens must begin to use technology in revolutionary ways. Hackers, through acts of "hacktivism" (politically motivated hacking), are using technology in inventive ways for political ends.;Living in an information society places constraints upon democratic practice. Because hackers are actively creating and shaping these constraints, they are likely to successfully negotiate these constraints. Hackers have evolved from a loose collective to a politically oriented social movement with a strong collective identity. Hackers are using their skills for political ends through acts of hacktivism. These politically motivated hacks provide clues concerning the prospects for a technologically enhanced democratic society.;Core tenets of hacker collective identity are embedded within hacker texts, manifestoes, and hacked Web pages. "The Conscience of a Hacker," also known as the hacker manifesto, provided a rallying cry for the nascent movement and began to articulate a collective identity for hackers. Instances of hacktivism demonstrate how this collective identity is enacted. An examination of a politically motivated hack of the New York Times website reveals that the action served more to reinforce hacker collective identity and to confirm in/out group distinctions between hackers and the rest of society than to incite political action or foster support for their cause, fulfilling what Richard Gregg calls the "ego function of protest rhetoric.";Because hacker collective identity is at odds with essential attributes of democracy, hackers are not likely to create a more democratic society. This conclusion casts doubt on the potential for new technologies to revolutionize democratic practice but there is still hope for a technologically enhanced form of democracy through citizens using technology in unintended and inventive ways.