«We Wanted to Do It Ourselves»
This article looks at the sector of cyberspace activists (“radical techies”) who set up independent digital infrastructures (internet servers) in order to provide other activists with Internet-based communication tools that are free, secure and do not operate according to market-driven principles. T...
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| Format: | Article |
| Language: | English |
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Rosenberg & Sellier
2009-03-01
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| Series: | Quaderni di Sociologia |
| Online Access: | https://journals.openedition.org/qds/804 |
| Summary: | This article looks at the sector of cyberspace activists (“radical techies”) who set up independent digital infrastructures (internet servers) in order to provide other activists with Internet-based communication tools that are free, secure and do not operate according to market-driven principles. These practices emerge in response to politics of enclosure and control threatening fundamental civil rights, such as the right to privacy and security of personal communications, and in reaction to the commercialization of the sector. The article explores the process of creation of autonomous zones in cyberspace, and of a collective identity which is the synthesis of individuals’ private experiences. It then looks at the action repertoire, based on the circumvention of institutions and restrictive rules, and at the emergence of strong transnational networks for knowledge exchange and self-defence among radical techies. It also seeks to understand whether these forms of radical online activism can be considered a social movement in the making, and what kind of connections these groups establish with organizations active in the field of media democratization. |
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| ISSN: | 0033-4952 2421-5848 |