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| author | Nick White <git@njw.me.uk> | 2010-11-14 22:47:04 +0000 |
|---|---|---|
| committer | Nick White <git@njw.me.uk> | 2010-11-14 22:47:04 +0000 |
| commit | 3d29579a6cb3be321296c12e27dfbf90fc9e26f9 (patch) | |
| tree | 15c9e095193955bab61f2264adee7a5ee69c8a37 /tests/html/riemenstext.html | |
| parent | 159527a972b0a929aeda3dcbd71c71f1367189de (diff) | |
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+ <td valign="top" height="2719">
+ <p align="center"><font face="Verdana, Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif" size="4" color="#990000"><b>SOME
+ THOUGHTS ON THE IDEA OF "HACKER CULTURE"<br>
+ </b></font><br>
+ <font face="Verdana, Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif" size="4" color="#990000"><b>Patrice
+ Riemens<br>
+ <br>
+ </b></font></p>
+ <p><font face="Times New Roman, Times, serif" size="3" color="#000000"><i>"The
+ Theory of 'Free Software' as the seed of a post-capitalist society only
+ makes sense where it is understood as the exposure of those very contradictions
+ of the development of productive forces which are relevant to the process
+ of emancipation. It does not, however, make sense as a discovery of a
+ format for their deployment out of which would automatically spring forth
+ a better society. And it does not make sense either as the first stage
+ of a process that one ought to follow as if it were a blueprint."
+ ("Eight Theses on Liberation," <a href="http://www.oekonux.de/liste/archive/msg04304.html" target="_blank">Oekonux</a>
+ mailing list)</i></font></p>
+ <p><font face="Verdana, Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif" size="2" color="#000000">As
+ the new information and communication technologies (ICT) entered our lives
+ and became increasingly important in our daily activities, so did all
+ kinds of knowledge, working habits and ways of thinking that were previously
+ the exclusive domain of "geeks" and computer experts. Even though
+ the vast majority of ICT users are passive consumers, a modicum of technological
+ know-how is more and more prevalent among non-professionals, and these
+ days, artists, intellectuals, and political activists have become fairly
+ visible as informed and even innovative actors in what has become known
+ as the public domain in cyberspace.</font></p>
+ <p><font face="Verdana, Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif" size="2" color="#000000">"Hackers,"
+ also often, but inexactly referred to as "computer pirates"
+ or other derogatory term, constitute without doubt the first social movement
+ that was intrinsic to the electronic technology that spawned our networked
+ society. Hackers, both through their savyness and their actions, have
+ hit the imagination and have been in the news right from the onset of
+ the "information age," being either hyped up as bearers of an
+ independent and autonomous technological mastery, or demonized as potential
+ "cyber-terrorists" in the process. More recently they have been
+ hailed in certain "alternative" intellectual and cultural circles
+ as a countervailing power of sorts against the increasingly oppressive
+ onslaught of both monopolistic ICT corporations and regulation-obsessed
+ governments and their experts. Transformed into role-models as effective
+ resistance fighters against "the system," their garb has been
+ assumed with various degrees of (de)merit by a plethora of cultural and
+ political activists associated, closely or loosely, with the "counter-globalization
+ movement."</font></p>
+ <p><font face="Verdana, Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif" size="2" color="#000000">Yet,
+ whereas hackers (if we take a broad definition of the term) have been
+ pioneering the opening up of electronic channels of communication in the
+ South, in the North, they initially were held in suspicion by those same
+ circles. Political militants there hesitated for a long time before embarking
+ into computers and the new media, which they tended to view as "capitalist"
+ and hence "politically incorrect." By the mid-nineties, however,
+ "on-line activism" made rapid progress worldwide as more and
+ more groups adopted the new technologies as tools of action and information
+ exchange. The dwindling costs of equipment and communication, the (relative)
+ ease of use, the reliability and security, and the many options that were
+ offered by ICT were a boon to activists of all possible denominations.
+ All this was also a very bad surprise to the people at the helm of corporate
+ and political power, as they saw a swift, substantial, and many-pronged
+ breakdown of their stranglehold on communication and information taking
+ place. For some time, it looked like as if a level playing field between
+ hitherto dominators and dominated had come within sight.</font></p>
+ <p><font face="Verdana, Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif" size="2" color="#000000">The
+ Net, as a result, became not only one of the principal carriers of political
+ activism, but also one of its major locus and issue. Once they had overcome
+ their initial shock and surprise, the powers that be were bound to react
+ forcefully. And they did, beefing up the "protection" of so-called
+ intellectual property, erecting ever higher walls around expert knowledge
+ and techniques, and unlashing all-round measures of control and surveillance
+ on electronic communications. But resistance against this (re)subjugation
+ of the networks also got organized. Almost by necessity, more and more
+ activists became conversant with the new technologies, which in the given
+ circumstances had to be a hands-on learning process. This process saw
+ activists turning "techies" and "geeks" turning activists
+ and has resulted in activist circles (political, but also intellectual,
+ cultural, and artistic) becoming markedly, sometimes completely, ITC-driven.
+ However, as we will see, this does not ipso facto make them hackers.</font></p>
+ <p><font face="Verdana, Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif" size="2" color="#000000">But
+ it was equally within the domain of ICT itself that the exponential expansion
+ of both range and carrying capacity of the Internet, as well of that of
+ the related technologies, and all this within an increasingly aggressive
+ commercial environment made experts think again about the consequences
+ of these developments and even reconsider their methods, opinion, and
+ for quite a few of them, their position within the hitherto obtaining
+ order of things. Rejecting the new enclosures that are being imposed on
+ the dissemination of knowledge and techniques by commercial and/or state
+ interests, they are exploring new avenues of developing, spreading, and
+ also rewarding knowledge-building that are not exploitative and monopolistic
+ or even solely profit-oriented. Hence the flight taken by various software
+ programs, utilities and application modalities that have become known
+ under the generic name of Linux, Free Software, Open Source, and General
+ Public License (for definitions, see www.gnu.org).</font></p>
+ <p><font face="Verdana, Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif" size="2" color="#000000">De
+ prime abord, these developments suggest that given these technological
+ settings and socio-economic and political circumstances, convergence was
+ bound to take place between the actors involved, meaning a merger between
+ hackers and (political, cultural etc) activists since they were spreading
+ the same message, and operated in parallel ways under similar threats.
+ Unfortunately, this interpretation is as unwarranted in its optimism as
+ it is precipitate in its formulation. Following a line of reasoning aptly
+ called by the Dutch "the wish is the mother of the idea," such
+ interpretation is based on the assumed relation, not to say equivalence,
+ between individuals and groups, and between pursuits, motives, and methods
+ whose affinities and linkages, even when viewed under the designation
+ of "new social movements," are far from evident. In fact the
+ alleged congruence is inherently unstable since it is contingent, and
+ the supposedly common positions between those two groups are often absent
+ altogether, and sometimes even contradictory. Whereas it would be excessive
+ to portray hackers and activists in terms of "never shall the twins
+ met," the idea, asserted by many a political activist and certain
+ "public intellectuals," to the effect that their coalescence
+ is both natural and inevitable is equally outlandish. Not only does it
+ run roughshod of the sensibilities of "authentic" hackers -
+ and it does so unfortuitously - it also misrepresents reality hence giving
+ rise to erroneous hypothesizes and unwarranted expectations.</font></p>
+ <p><font face="Verdana, Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif" size="2" color="#000000">"Hacker
+ culture," a concept one often encounters these days among networked
+ activists, purports to represent this playful confluence between tech
+ wizardry and the moral high ground. Hence, "Open Source" is
+ fast becoming an omnibus framework and a near-universal tool-kit to tackle
+ very diverse social issues, such as artistic production, law, epistemology,
+ education, and a few others, which are but remotely - if at all - related
+ to the field of software research and development, and the social environments
+ from which it originates. There is little wrong in itself to this - imitation
+ being the best of compliments - but for the fact that it tends to obscure
+ a sticky problem. Between hackers and activists often looms a wide gap
+ in approach and attitude that is just too critical to be easily papered
+ away. And it is precisely this fundamental difference that is usually
+ being hushed up by the evangelists of what I call the "hackers-activists
+ bhai-bhai" gospel - phrased after the celebrated slogan mouthed by
+ Chinese and Indian Ministers in 1953: "Hindi-Chini Bhai-Bhai"
+ ("India and China are Brothers") … nine years later, both countries
+ were at war. A good, if a contrario, example of a really occurring non-equivalence
+ between political activists applying ICT and hackers is provided by that
+ spurious hybrid known as "hacktivism." "Hacktivism"
+ was originally coined by the Boston-based hackers "Cult of the Dead
+ Cow" (www.cultdeadcow.com), whose tag-line read "We put the
+ hack in activism." It was all about using ICT skills to thwart attacks
+ on liberties by powerful institutions. The group later had to defend itself
+ of guilt by association with respect to recent manifestations of "hacktivism"
+ as Distributed Denial of Services (DoDS) attacks.</font></p>
+ <p><font face="Verdana, Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif" size="2" color="#000000">Behind
+ the so-called "Hacker Ethic" is the usual, daily activity of
+ hackers. To put it very simply, without going deeper into its precise
+ content, the hacker ethic runs strikingly parallel to the formula "l'art
+ pour l'art." What matters here, is the realization that, unlike activists,
+ hackers are focused on the pursuit of knowledge and the exercise of curiosity
+ for its own sake. Therefore, the obligations that derive from the hacker
+ ethic are perceived by genuine hackers as sovereign and not instrumental,
+ and always prevail above other aims or interests, whatever these may be
+ - and if there are any at all. This consequently makes the hackers movement
+ to be wary of any particular blueprint of society, however alternative,
+ and even adverse to embrace particular antagonism (some hackers, and not
+ minor ones, are for instance loath to demonize the Microsoft Corporation).
+ Hence the spread of political and philosophical opinions harbored by individual
+ hackers, without any loss of their feeling of identity and belonging to
+ the "movement" at large or even their particular group, is truly
+ astonishing, and very unlikely to obtain within any other "new social
+ movement." In fact, the militant defense of individual liberties
+ and a penchant for rather unegalitarian economic convictions one encounters
+ in tandem among a good many hackers has provided for bafflement among
+ networked political (i.e. left-leaning) activists coming to be better
+ acquainted with their "natural allies." Yet it is neither fortuitous
+ nor aberrant that the Californian transmutation of libertarianism enjoys
+ such widespread support among hackers.</font></p>
+ <p><font face="Verdana, Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif" size="2" color="#000000">The
+ existence of such "ideological" positions has its reflection
+ in the daily and usual activities of hackers, which are generally characterized
+ by an absence of preconceived ideas and positions. Despite the avowed
+ "end of the great narratives," this is not the case with political
+ activists, since they do have objectives and aims that precede their actions.
+ Hackers, on the other hand, are usually happy with the "mere,"
+ but unrestricted, pursuit of knowledge, which reduces their "political
+ program," if that can be so called, to the freedom of learning and
+ enquiry, and thus would seem to fall very much short of demands for justice,
+ equality, emancipation, empowerment, etc that are formulated by political
+ militants. Yet they seem to be content with it, and there are good arguments
+ to think that such a program, as limited as it may sound, is essential,
+ not subsequent, to the achievement of the better society we all aspire
+ too.</font></p>
+ <p><font face="Verdana, Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif" size="2" color="#000000">This
+ being said, the points of convergence between the activities of hackers
+ and those of (political) activists are many, and they increase by the
+ day. It is becoming more and more evident that both groups face the same
+ threats, and the same adversaries. As expert technological knowledge -
+ especially of ITC - that sits outside the formally structured (and shielded)
+ domains of corporate or political power gets evermore vilified in the
+ shape of "(cyber)-terrorist" fantasies, paranoia, and finally,
+ repression, while at the same time this very expertise is increasingly
+ being mastered and put to use by the enemies of the neo-liberal "One
+ Idea System," stronger, if circumstantial, links are being welded
+ between hackers and activists. And these linkages are likely to deepen
+ and endure in the same measure as the hostility and risks both groups
+ are likely to encounter augment, it is worthwhile to analyze what unites
+ as well as what separates them.</font></p>
+ <p><font face="Verdana, Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif" size="2" color="#000000">"Hacktivist"
+ activities (and I am mostly referring here to the handywork of three groups,
+ Electronic Disturbance Theater, Electrohippies and RTMark), well advertised
+ by their authors, but also gleefully reported in the mainstream media,
+ are illustrative of the gap that parts activists from hackers. The former
+ usually view "hacktivism," which exploits the innumerable glitches
+ and weaknesses of ICT systems to destabilize the electronic communication
+ supports of "enemy organs" (government agencies, big corporations,
+ international financial institutions, "fascist" groups, etc.),
+ as a spectacular form of resistance and sabotage. The latter (generally)
+ take a much dimmer view, considering these activities as ineffective and
+ futile, and moreover, in most cases, technically inept as well. Such activities
+ (or antics) endanger the integrity of the network which hackers consider
+ to be theirs also. "Denial of Service" attacks, irrespective
+ of aims and targets, amount in their eyes to attacks on the freedom of
+ expression, which they seem to respect in a much more principled manner
+ than most political activists.</font></p>
+ <p><font face="Verdana, Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif" size="2" color="#000000">The
+ truth is, that by abetting "hacktivism," activists implicitly
+ admit that the net has become a mere corporate carrier, to which they
+ have only a subordinate, almost clandestine, access, as opposed to be
+ stakeholders in, and thus sharing responsibility for it. This constitutes
+ their fundamental divergence with hackers, and it is not easily remediable.</font></p>
+ <p><font face="Verdana, Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif" size="2" color="#000000">Political
+ activists are also, almost by definition, inclined to seek maximum media
+ exposure for their ideas and actions. Their activities, therefore, tend
+ to be public in all the acceptations of the term. The range of issues
+ that are covered by their ideals, and the variety of means and methods
+ to achieve the same make they need some form of organization, which is
+ often complex, because of and not despite the fact they strive for distribution
+ and horizontality. The result is that even in the most alternative of
+ circles, an apparatus and leaders appear, whose very informality obscures
+ rather than prevent hierarchies from arising. This does not suit well
+ the practice and the ethics of hackers, which Pekka Himanen has described
+ as "monastic" (www.hackersethic.org). The habitus may be monastic,
+ the behavior of hackers may however, perhaps be more suitably paralleled
+ with the "Slashta," the Polish gentry. There too, we see a desire
+ between equals, that is equals recognized as such beforehand, and hence
+ also elitist. Political activists on the other hand are much more opportunistic
+ when it comes to alliances and associations they engage in.</font></p>
+ <p><font face="Verdana, Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif" size="2" color="#000000">So
+ does the idea of "hacker culture" represent an effective way
+ to describe and define certain current modes of political activism, especially
+ when those do have a large ICT component? In many instances where the
+ term is being used, to the point of having become one of the "buzz-word
+ du jour," I do not believe so. In many cases, it is the romantic
+ appeal of what is perceived as hacker power and prowess that leads to
+ a superficial adoption of the "hacker attitude" moniker by the
+ cultural and political activists, but not of its underlying methods and
+ values. That does not mean that there exists an absolute incompatibility
+ between those two groups, and there are fortunately cases suggesting the
+ existence of a continuum - such as the Indymedia tech community's pairing
+ of expertise to a "serve the people" type of operation (tech.indymedia.org,
+ www.anarchogeek.com). But it should caution against a facile (and trendy)
+ assumption of an equivalence, and maybe against the confusion-inducing
+ use of the term "hacker culture" itself.</font></p>
+ <p><font face="Verdana, Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif" size="2" color="#000000"><br>
+ <i><font face="Times New Roman, Times, serif" size="3">This article first
+ appeared in French in <a href="http://www.samizdat.net/multitudes" target="_blank">Multitudes</a>,
+ Vol 2, No 8, March-April 2002, and in (an expanded) English translation
+ in <a href="http://cryptome.org/hacker-idea.htm" target="_blank">Cryptome</a>
+ on June 3, 2002.<br>
+ </font></i></font><br>
+ </p>
+ <p align="center"><b><font face="Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif" size="2" color="#000000"><a href="http://subsol.c3.hu/subsol_2/contributors3/riemensbio.html" target="_self"><font size="3">about
+ Patrice Riemens >></font></a></font></b></p>
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