Hacktivism

Hacktivism has a bad reputation because of the harm it can cause. In the NPR program, "hackers Stall Ticket sales for Rockies Game," the Colorado Rockies game had 54,000 tickets prevented from going on sale for a time because of a hacker. Although there are many hackers who use hacktivism to cause harm, there are beneficial forms of hacking. The Zapatistas used hacking to put out there ideas and their cause over the Internet to garner support for their revolution in Mexico. This is just a modern form of civil disobedience, but is subject to punishment, because it may cause harm to the government, as did literature in the past, such as Thomas Paine's "Common Sense." The problem with the punishment of hacking is that not all hackers are trying to cause harm, and the term "harm" and who may be harmed are subject to opinion. Obviously the Mexican government will be harmed by the Zapatistas movement, but the citizens of Mexico may be helped. Who is to say what may harm and what may help?