Hacktivists: Cyberterrorists or Online Activists?

TL;DR

This paper explores the legal and technical boundaries of digital activism, analyzing whether hacktivist actions should be viewed as legitimate online assembly or criminal activity, and discusses how to regulate digital protests.

Contribution

It provides an analysis of the legal and technical aspects of digital right to assembly and proposes requirements for legitimate digital protests.

Findings

Digital activism blurs legal boundaries between protest and crime

Legal frameworks need adaptation for online assemblies

Technical safeguards can support legitimate digital protests

Abstract

The last decade, online activism has vastly grown. In the current digital society, from time to time citizens decide to express their opinion by attacking large corporations digitally in some way. Where the activists claim this to be a digital assembly, others see it as criminal offences. In this paper, we will explore the legal and technical borders of the digital right to assembly. By doing so, we can gain insight into digital manifestations and make up the balance on the digital right to assembly. As an additional contribution, we will discuss how the digital right to assembly could be granted and which legal and technical requirements should be set for a digital assembly.