Online ‘hacktivists,’ their methods and motivations
The real world is catching up with the cyber-punk books of William Gibson and Neal Stephenson ? books populated by information terrorists, online hackers and a ?cyberspace? every bit as real as our own world. Yesterday, thousands of supporters of WikiLeaks founder Julian Assange staged an online campaign to try and overwhelm the websites of companies including Amazon, PayPal and MasterCard.com, going so far as to swamp the credit card company’s website intermittently throughout the morning. Who are the players directing this online stampede, what are their methods and their motivations?
We speak with Gregg Housh, an Internet activist who has in the past worked with Anonymous, and Martin Libicki, Senior Management Scientist at the Rand Corporation.
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