October 11, 2011

Hackers and HacktivistsHacker originally referred to someone who

“hacked through” difficult coding thickets to arrive at a working piece of software

Other meanings include:Someone interested in defeating or strengthening

computer security measures (see also “cracker”)A person who supports the free and open software

movement A hacktivist is a person who engages in “the

nonviolent use of illegal or legally ambiguous digital tools in the pursuit of political ends” (Wikipedia)

Hacktivists and Hacktivist TechniquesDefacingDistributed denial of service attacks (DDS)Ping stormsEmail bombingsMalicious code or malware attacksRedirects

Example: WikiLeaks and AnonymousPurpose of Wikipedia is to provide a

platform for “whistle blowers” of all sorts

Big controversy over Collateral Murder video followed by massive release of U.S. Department of State diplomatic cables

When the U.S. government went after organizations that channeled contributions to Wikileaks and Julian Assange in 2010, Anonymous launched denial of service attacks against Amazon, PayPal, Mastercard and Visa

Yes MenThe Yes Men are a group of

culture jamming activists who practice what they call "identity correction" by pretending to be powerful people and spokespersons for prominent organizations. They create and maintain fake websites similar to ones they want to spoof, and then they accept invitations received on their websites to appear at conferences, symposia, and TV shows.

Their web site.

Vote Trading?Web sites inspired by hactivist

James Baumgartner that allow voters to auction their votes (illegal)

Steve Yoder’s Voteexchange.org worked on the principle that since you would help Bush if you voted for Nader in a close state, you could contact a Gore voter in another state where Gore was ahead who would agree to vote for Nader.

Votedorset.netVote trading in the UKDesigned to help “progressive” voters defeat

the Conservative Party candidates by allowing Liberal Party supporters to vote Labour and vice versa.

Key Claims about Impact of the Internet on Political PartiesParty Competition (possible lower cost to

start a new party)Power Diffusion (increased grassroots control

over candidates)Institutional Adaptation (parties adapt to the

Internet by using it to buttress their advantages, party competition will not increase)

The Howard Dean Campaign2003-2004 CampaignJoe Trippi in charge of

Internet strategyEarly alliance with

meetup.comEarly support from the

Daily KosDean won in New

Hampshire but ultimately lost to Kerry

The 2008 Obama CampaignExtensive use of the Internet to

solicit small campaign contributions and to build a network of campaign workers/volunteers

Extensive use of YouTube to spread awareness of the campaign by repurposing campaign ads

More limited use of interactivity to gather ideas from supporters and to vet ideas from campaign headquarters

David Plouffe

video

The 2008 Presidential ElectionWhat the Pew Internet and American Life

Project has to say about it (report).More got politic al info from the Internet,

espec. online political videosIncreased use of social networking sites

(MySpace and Facebook)Increase in online contributors from 2 percent

in 2004 to 6 percent in 2008Some self-reports of voter empowerment but

also of worries about extremism and misinformation

Discussion Points (Chadwick, ch. 7)Has the early potential of the Internet been

realized in the area of election campaigning?Why has the United States witnessed greater

levels of online campaigning than the United Kingdom?

Assess the long-term significance of the Dean campaign of 2003-2004.

Is online interaction too risky for politicians?Have parties successfully adapted to the Internet?Evaluate the claim that the Internet will combat

voter apathy.

Defining e-Government“…e-government initiatives usually involve

several types of electronic and information systems, including database, networking, discussion support, multimedia, automation, tracking and tracing, and personal identification technologies.”

Can be used at all levels of government from local to national.

Goals for use are diverse.May be useful to distinguish among G2G, G2B,

and G2C communications.

Historical Developments in USU.S. National Performance Review (1993

supervised by VP Al Gore)Creation of government portal, Firstgov (now

called USA.gov)Clinton memorandum to accelerate e-governmentGovernment Paperwork Elimination Act of 1998E-Government Act of 2002More history of initiatives can be found on the

OMB Office of E-Government and Information Technology web site

Work of Darrell WestIU Political Science PhDUntil recently he taught at

Brown UniversityCurrently head of Governance

Studies at the Brookings Institution

Check out his web site, Inside Politics, for data on e-government at the state and federal government levels and also for international comparisons

Work of Stuart ShulmanUniv. of Oregon PhDTaught at Univ. of

Pittsburgh, 1999-2008Currently at U. Mass,

AmherstMain research: federal

agency rule-makingFounder of the Journal of

Information Technology and Politics

Discussion Points (Chadwick, ch. 8)What are the policy origins of e-government?Is e-government about better government,

better democracy, or both?How is e-government different from previous

government computerization initiatives?Doe e-government change power relations

with public bureaucracies?Does e-government redistribute power within

the political system?