NCJ Number
218891
Date Published
2007
Length
16 pages
Annotation
This chapter extends current literature on the alternative politics-civil networks paradigm to computer-mediated communications (CMCs) and political activism.
Abstract
Alternative political activities online have increasingly been seen as a form of unlawful activity by states’ national security forces and moves to criminalize them have proceeded quickly. But the relationship between civil networks and political action on the Internet is now well-established and no amount of government interference, short of total censorship, will be able to undermine it entirely. Other problems may well be on the horizon: it was argued in 2002 that the implications of civil society moving to the Internet was a worrying trend rather than a positive process, and five main issues of concern were outlined: equity, weak social bonds, diminished public deliberation, rampant consumerism, and the impact of eroding privacy on freedom of association. One of the central features of alternative political movements is their network-like nature. This has increased and intensified through use of the Internet. It is the global network structure of the Internet that serves contemporary alternative political movements so very well both in organizational and informational terms. This chapter conducts a brief exploration of the nature of the network society in addition to some of the theoretical approaches to political actions and the way Internet technologies and alternative political activism are integral to one another. The chapter refers to two case studies and relevant- related Web sites to highlight the type of relationship that exists between computer-mediated communications (CMCs) and political activities on the Net and conducted by the State in a parallel fashion to underground political activities of the past. The chapter is essentially concerned with two groups: Net-dedicated activists or hacktivists’ and political users of the Net. References