The Internet: A New Voice for Civil Rights Group

8/10/2019 The Internet: A New Voice for Civil Rights Group

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The Internet: A New Voice for Civil Rights Group

With the availability of modern and cheapertechnology, the world has become a

single state, a world that now has imaginary boundaries in terms of communications.

Ever since the Internet was born it has continually evolved and now became an

important part of our daily undertakings. It is the treasure trove of information. News

coming from the other side of the world reaches us within seconds with the help of the

internet. Ideas and information continuously change hands in the Web shaping our

societies today.

We are now in the Information age and it posses the power to change our lives

and even the world. As Dorothy Denning (a Distinguished Professor at the Department

of Defence Analysis Naval Postgraduate School and author of Activism, hacktivism,

and Cyberterrorism: the Internet as a tool for influencing foreign policy andother books

dedicated to Internet and its usage) argued, the Internet is a powerful tool for

communicating and coordinating action due to its relatively easy to access nature and

inexpensive operation (Denning, 2000). This is the main argument why a single man or

groups of any size can reach each other and use the Net to promote an agenda.

Anyone coming from any geographical region in the world can access articles and other

publications promoting an ideology or an agenda anytime and anywhere in the Internet.(Denning, 2000).

The use of the Internet in order to promote advocacy is can be described as a

form of Cyber Activism. It is the promotion of ideas or agendas with the use of the

Internet through gadgets like computers, cellular phones and tablets.

Cyber-activism is a new form of activism that was done in a digital manner. It was

made possible by the Information Age. With huge amount of information and data

available with only a touch of a finger, the possibilities of its use are endless. The

amount of ideas and information that can be shared to a large crowd willing to listen is a

massive opportunity to people and groups to advance their interest. Internet has the

capacity to become a tool for interest articulation. Today it has been tapped by

numerous people, especially civil rights groups and was able to influence political

landscapes.


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Throughout history, political lobbying generally has been done in-person, using

lobbyists and/or strategic monetary donations to facilitate their goals. With the growth of

the Internet however, new means of interest articulation have risen. The most prominent

types of Cyber Activism used are the social media activism and hacktivist movement.

According to Anthony Pratkanis, a professor of Psychology from the University of

California, he significance of Technology in political participation especially in the

process of interest articulation is that the effects brought upon by CyberActivism was

just the starting point of a new and higly sophisticated tool in communication (Samuel,

2004). Thus we must pay attention to future trends. The digital world connects people

and ideas. These areas are still vastly uncharted. Their possibilities are endless and

one by one we can charter these great areas of the political world.

The world saw its great capabilities unleashed and turned into action in the

Middle East. The Arab spring was a revolution joined by young protesters influenced by

the social media. In the year 2011, hacking group known as the Anonymous and the

website Wikileaks leaked government documents online. The secrets that have been

revealed stirred the people causing them to act against their government.

Individuals and other groups such as Civil rights groups are tapping the Internet

to propagate their ideas and agendas. Their actions have resulted in the formation of

Internet as modern public spheres.

Internet as a modern Public Sphere

The Public Sphere theory proposed by Jurgen Habermas explains the existence

of an external authority, completely separated from the state, safeguards the rights of

the people. This external authority is composed of discussion groups of people

discussing existing social and political issues. These groups of intellectual discussion

create a public sphere, freely discussing relevant matters and making it possible to

create solutions. It was a phenomenon studied by Habermas in the Bourgeouise era,

but the concept is still applicable in current situation.

Sidney Verba and Gabriel Almond, in their study of the distribution and causes of

mass activism, said that cultural attitude of the people affects mass movement. (Almond

and Verba,1963). It is said that education (and socioeconomic status) plays a vital role


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in peoples participation. Men are more likely to participate if they are informed,

interested, and efficacious, if they care strongly about the outcome, and if they think that

they can make a difference.

That is the effect brought about the interactions brought by Social Networking

websites and blog websites. They are promoting discussions and intellectual debates

online in these websites. With an easy access to these intellectual discussions, these

websites increase peoples participation, which in turn turns into political education.

The cycle continues as the political education turns into mass political

participation caused by the empowerment brought about the new information they have

obtained. Mass participation greatly increases the democratic process helping the

people mould the laws that will suit better for their needs.

This is the backbone of the public sphere theory. The people are capable of

creating an independent organization, separate from the state, to safeguard the rights of

the people. The laws and policies created by the government should reflect the public

sentiment with the help of the public sphere. It is the nature of legitimate democratic

government to follow the lead of the people.

Dahlgren proposed that there are different sectors of Net-based public spheres

and there are five categories in which he divided the public sphere. These are E-

governments, Activist Domain, Civic Forums, Parapolitical Domain and Journalism

Domain. (Dahlgren, 2005):

The E-Government is the approach made by the state through its representatives

to interact more with it citizen. Activist Domains are public spheres where discussion is

framed by an individual or groups with a specific advocacy with the goals of forming

political intervention, Civic Forums meanwhile is the type of public sphere where views

are exchanged among citizens and deliberation can take place. Parapolitical Domain

are public spheres which conducts discussion among groups of people who are sharing

common social or cultural interests. Lastly the Journalism Domain is the public sphere

composed mainly of large news organizations with websites (CNN et al), Internet-based

news organizations (Rappler et al) and one-person weblog sites or Blogs in short.

(Dahlgren, 2005)


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International Effects of CyberActivism

One of the most glaring evidence of the effect of CyberActivism is the changes

brought upon by the Anonymous Movement in the political landscape of the Internet.

We have seen the success they have achieved in recent years in using the Internet as a

platform to launch their agenda. Politically motivated data breaches and propaganda

movement made by the Anonymous have inspired full-blown revolutions. In the spring

of 2011, protestors, often young, took to the streets in the Middle East, rallying against

their governments, some of which had been in power for decades. They were

emboldened by, among other things, technology. For some, WikiLeaks and a

decentralized online organization known as Anonymous created the environment that

gave rise to the Arab Spring by posting secret government documents online.

Internet based activist groups such as Anonymous and LulzSec have garnered

much media attention over the last few years with takedowns of the FBI, Visa,

Mastercard, Paypal, and Department of Justice websites, as well as disruptions to the

Sony Playstation network. Law enforcement around the world has had difficulty coping

with the decentralized nature of these associations, yet has scored a few recent

successes in arresting individual hackers. The Weekly Focus takes a look at the

organization and goals of Anonymous, as well as the ways that law enforcement has

responded to internet based activists groups and problems law enforcement has faced

in dealing with these organizations.

Anonymous was created in 2003 as a coordinated, but anonymous, online

community. The group first gained notoriety after it initiated an online campaign against

the Church of Scientology, although it wasnt until 2008 that Anonymous started its

devotion to hacktivism - a term the group uses to identify their protest by the way of

hacking. The group has attacked what it views as censorship and regulation of the

Internet, often through distributed denial of service (DDoS) attacks, or online hacking

that temporarily stops users from accessing targeted websites. The organization is not

tied to any identifiable individual or group, so it is hard to pin down perpetrators in

response to its actions.

Filipino Internet Usage Trends


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The Philippines is dubbed as the social media capital today and was considered

as one of the countries that has the most active people in the internet. The availability of

cheaper gadgets and propagation of free wireless connections makes it possible for

Filipinos to access the internet thereby increasing the number of Filipinos online

annually. Around 29 million Filipinos or 29.2% of the total population are internet users

out of 104 million of the total Philippine population with an estimated 3.7 million of which

are active internet users (Pertierra 2012).

Filipinos are primarily active in the use of Social Media with platforms such as

Facebook, Twitter, Youtube and Blog Sites. The active usage of Filipinos to different

social media platforms will result in the gradual reshaping of the Filipino values and

culture (Pertierra 2012).

National Effects of CyberActivism

Events that unfolded in the early 21st century until now have brought to us the

importance of Internet and Technology in the field of politics. Leaders and their regimes

are being toppled down by these digital activities. Mindsets about political ideas are

being influenced and moulded by the information they have accumulated with the help

of online media. We can share our thoughts and ideas in the networking sites and

discuss them to a large number of people. All these and more are the power possessed

by the social media.

A significant event in the year 2001 has shown us the true power of Social Media

when Philippine President Joseph Ejercito Erap Estrada was ousted from presidency.

The very bare appearance of EDSA II All is that it was a successful the peaceful

revolution. What is not known to many is that the EDSA revolution became a success

due to modern technology. The phenomenon was believed to have been caused by

unseen activities the night before the people gathered in EDSA and President Estrada

was ousted from his office. The text brigades that happened around the around the

metropolitan area of the Philippines and nearby provinces have stirred the emotions of

the people. The massive information dissemination about the alleged corruption of the

President and about the protest that was about to happen was sent through SMS (Short

mail service).


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Overall Analysis

The Internet is a new form of media and an effective way of providing the people

an outlet in airing their concerns and grievances or just sharing their ideas and

advocacy. Internet also provides a way of protesting through civil disobedience, either

through Social Media Activism as we have seen in Million People March a mass

movement against the pork barrel and Hacktivism in the Case of Anonymous

Philippines and the cybercrime Law.

The use of social media in activism influences and continuously alters the

political landscape of a country. The continuous growing amount of social media users

will have an effect on the political landscape of today. With the prices of gadgets going

down (with the help cheaper manufacturing technology and huge number of

competition) and the ease of access in the Internet, the Information age has yet to

discover unknown and untapped potentials that will eventually change our lives in the

future.

We are now living in the Information age. Various forms of Media have surfaced

through the innovations from the past years. Internet is one of the product of these

innovation. Its usage has penetrated the daily functions of modern man. Information and

news is just one click away. It has totally overhauled the system of communication and

the way we interact with other people. As Marshall Mcluhan have said.

Any technology gradually creates a totally new human environment

Works Cited


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Almond G. and Sidney Verbas The Civic Culture: Political Attitudes and

Democracy in Five Nations (1963)

Brodder, David S. Democracy Derailed: Initiative Campaigns and the Power of

Money .New York: Harcourt, 2000.

Dahlgren, Peter. Media and Poltical Engagement: citizens, communication and

democracy.Cambridge: Cambridge University Press, 2009.

Denning, D. E., Activism, Hacktivism, and Cyberterrorism: The Internet as a Tool

for Influencing Foreign Policy, Nautilus Institute. A revised version appeared

in The Computer Security Journal, Vol. XVI, No. 3, Summer 2000, pp. 15-35. A

further revision appeared in Networks and Netwars : The Future of Terror, Crime,

and Militancy, J. Arquilla and D. F. Ronfeldt (eds), 2001, pp. 239-288.

Mckenna, Regis. Real Time: Preparing for the Age of Never Satisfied Customers.

Boston, Massachusetts: Harvard Business School Press, 1999.

Pertierra, Raul. "The New Media, Society & Politics in the Philippines." Friedrich-

Ebert-Stiftung (FES) , 2012

Samuel A. (2004) Hacktivism and the Future of Political Participation. Harvard

University. Cambridge Massachusetts

Documents

The Internet: A New Voice for Civil Rights Group