Jean Lievens: The War on Knowledge — The Year Hacktivists and the Government Went to War

The Year Hacktivists And The Government Went To War

Gerry Smith

Huffington Post, 20 December 2013

Peter Ludlow, a philosophy professor at Northwestern University, wrote in The Nation that the prosecution of hacktivists was part of “a war on knowledge” that extends beyond hackers to include Edward Snowden and Chelsea Manning, who exposed government secrets. Manning is serving a 35-year sentence for Espionage Act violations. Snowden, in Russia on temporary asylum, has been charged with espionage and theft of government property.

“Taken together, the lesson appears to be that computer hacking for social causes and computer hacking aimed at exposing the secrets of governing elites will not be tolerated,” Ludlow wrote.

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Phi Beta Iota: Governments will continue to utilize their relative monopoly of violence, but they have lost their claim to loyalty. They have lost their legitimacy. Laws have been paid for by the 1% and are therefore void of social legitimacy. Information cannot be protected in part because governments refused to be honest about protecting electronic communications — a good example of corruption within NSA undermining the ability of the government to achieve legitimacy. The truth at any cost lowers all other costs. We anticipate a combination of hacktivism that is technical illegal, and non-violent resistance and dropping out — buycotts — that is legal. Taxes and the stock market will crash. The smart money will be virtual and local and not visible to banks or governments. This is where we are headed for so long as governments no longer represent the public interest.

See Also:

Hackers @ Phi Beta Iota

Legitimacy @ Phi Beta Iota

Public Power @ Phi Beta Iota

Secession @ Phi Beta Iota