[Reader-list] Virtual Sit Ins and Electronic Disturbances

[Patrice]

On 5/26/01 6:44 AM, "Menso Heus" <menso at r4k.net> wrote:

> 
> 
> 
> On Wed, May 23, 2001 at 01:16:06PM +0530, Shuddhabrata Sengupta wrote:
>> VIRTUAL SIT INS AND ELECTRONIC DISTURBANCES
>> Apologies for Cross Posting to those already on the Nettime List. This is
>> an interview excerpted from a posting by Florian Schneider on "Virtual Sit
>> Ins against Deprotation" on Nettime earlier today. The interview, itslef,
>> with Ricardo Dominguez, offers a very interesting take on what practical
>> everyday political action can be like on the Internet.  A well coordinated
>> virtual sit in,cannot be construed as 'Illegal', yet, can be quite
>> crippling to the target.
> 
> These so called virtual sit-ins are also known under another name, Denial of
> Service attack, or DoS for short and Mr Dominguez is quite wise to not name
> it so. Instead of just being a fight against a specific target (a sit-in
> in front of an office building as Mr Dominguez likes to see it) it takes
> along a great deal more than that and is actually more comparable to blocking
> an entire street or block instead of just one office.

(etc)

I am very, very glad that Menso has taken upon him to make the point on this
list which 'bona fide' hackers have made over and over again these past
three years against the Ricardo Dominguez ( & 'Electrohippies')  brand of
so-called 'hacktivism'. It has been a thankless task, few non-techie
activists would listen, we were branded reactionaries, etc etc, and that's
why, I for my part, have stopped doing it, in writings and in public at
last. There is nothing to add to what Menso wrote, save may be, that it is
also interesting (however entirely 'taboo' in our circles) to look at the
personal motives and manners of 'public hacktivists', like Mr Dominguez. My
gut feelings are they're not good and that Mr Dominguez may best be
described as (one of the) 'pronouncement people' - which to me, is not a
compliment. (I wrote about that before, in nettime, so I won't rehash
further)

As I see it, the main protagonist of 'public hacktivism' for the moment, are
RDom cs & the Electrohippies; RTMark; and The Cult of the Dead Cow Hackers,
this representing a kind of spectrum going from "bad" to "good". Other
protagonists include No Borders/Kein Mensch ist Illegal (tending to side
with RDom), and the Critical Arts Ensemble (against - superbly deconstructed
Rdom years ago). Before engaging in, or even supporting, any form of
'hacktivism' I would enjoin all of you to give a good look at the matter,
gather information, and think before acting.

Cheers from Seattle,
Patrice & Diiiino!