On hacking and politics

I meant to blog this whilst I was still in Vegas, but only got around
to it now. Its arb, but worth a bit of thinking… Kenneth Geers’
talk titled ‘Greetz from Room 101’ was on which countries have the
Top Ten most Orwellian computer networks. In his precis he asks
“Could a cyber attack lead to a real-life government overthrow?”
I find these kinds of discussions really interesting, because of the
significant role that information technology plays in today’s wars on
crime and ‘terror’. In such “wars” the lines between right and wrong
are very loosely defined. As we saw clearly in South Africa today’s
terrorist is tomorrow’s freedom fighter. Thus, a technology that
could be used fight terror today, could just as easily be used to
oppress freedom tomorrow. Technology will serve any master.

I meant to blog this whilst I was still in Vegas, but only got around

to it now. Its arb, but worth a bit of thinking… Kenneth Geers’

talk titled ‘Greetz from Room 101’ was on which countries have the

Top Ten most Orwellian computer networks. In his precis he asks

“Could a cyber attack lead to a real-life government overthrow?”

I find these kinds of discussions really interesting, because of the

significant role that information technology plays in today’s wars on

crime and ‘terror’. In such “wars” the lines between right and wrong

are very loosely defined. As we saw clearly in South Africa today’s

terrorist is tomorrow’s freedom fighter. Thus, a technology that

could be used fight terror today, could just as easily be used to

oppress freedom tomorrow. Technology will serve any master.

Geers makes the point that ordinary people can’t fight technical

oppression because of the enormous advantage in skills and resources

governments will always have over ordinary people in the technical

arena. Generally speaking, he’s right. Enter the hacker. I believe

the hacker sub-culture is the one place from which an effective

resistance to technical oppression could conceivable come. Hackers

potentially have the skill, the access to technology, the mentality

and the political awareness to offer an effective resistance to a

government that uses technology for oppression.

The reason I find this so important is that in an ever-changing world

one never knows when and where an oppressive regime will emerge. I

think its important therefore for the hacker culture to remain aware

of not only the technical developments, but also the political

currents that might herald an era of increased oppression, in any

state. Kenneth specifically listed 10 countries where such oppression

was extreme, but tomorrow the world will look different again and you

may well find your country somewhere on that list. Desmond Tutu

summed it up nicely at the end of ‘Truth and Reconciliation

Commission’ in South Africa: ” We can’t assume, that yesterday’s

oppressed will not become tomorrow’s oppressors. We have seen it

happen all over the world, and we shouldn’t be surprised if it

happens here’.

Any people should remain constantly wary of their government, and any

technical mechanism that increases government’s control over people

should be viewed with suspicion. Hacker’s with their knowledge, their

skills and their ethic, should be at the forefront of this guard.

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