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Law in the Internet Society
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Disobedience and Obedience in the Information Age-- By ConnorHasson - 21 Oct 2024OverviewThe internet and technologies derived from it have increased the ability or groups to organize social disobedience. Whereas previously it was difficult to muster critical masses of people in a quick manner that was also widespread for a protest or something of the like; now, through the internet, garnering support of the likeminded is much easier than it was previously. However, “speed” is a relative function. That is not to say that in the past there were not well organized and widespread unrest, but that organization has sped up and communications can travel faster, at more distance than ever before. Furthermore, disobedience through hacking to disrupt institutions that an organization or group might oppose is now possible. Whereas before the internet, means to dismantle or harm an institution or corporate entity that a small group opposed to them was difficult and required largely physical action. Now, groups can devastate an entity they oppose in a decentralized manner that doesn’t require the physical aspect that it did before. The internet has allowed for faster protests, and smaller, focused groups that have the power to exact a nontrivial amount of harm to targets of their choosing.DisobedienceThe ability to grow unrest in the digital age is unparalleled in history with the speed and coordination that the internet and social media has allowed us. Furthermore, cyberspace has created another front with which disobedience can play a role. This space grows every day in importance as more and more of the world’s economic role is played out in this realm. These two confluences have changed the game when it comes disobedience against corporate, educational, and state entities.ConnectivityConsider the Arab Spring, the George Floyd Protests, or the protests against Israeli actions in Gaza. While there was going to be disobedience in these events anyways, the speed and size and the coalitions put together for these events would have been difficult to replicate in a prior time without access to internet, cellular devices, and social media. Of course, there had been successful and worthy protest movements in the past, but the speed that struggles in the modern age can put together because of the internet and its supplements, modern movements can organize with size, speed, and scale like no time before it. Mass communication tools of the 20th century were often controlled in part by the state, which would move to clamp down on protests or prevent them entirely. See Brannen, Samuel, et al. “The Age of Mass Protests Understanding an Escalating Global Trend”, March 2020. Radio, television, and newspapers were often controlled in part by the state which could dampen protest movements. Whereas in the modern age, the internet is decentralized and provides information, often in dramatic fashion like video, on a second by second basis. See Ruijgrok, Kris. “From the Web to the Streets: Internet and Protests under Authoritarian Regimes”, Democratization, vol. 24, no. 3, 8 Sept. 2016. In this way, the internet has become a great tool for harnessing grievances of people disparate in the real world but can come together and fight in a way that was not possible before. Smartphones have allowed youth to operate quickly and there are more young people than ever in the world, leading to a greater pool upon which protests can draw from. That is not to say that this is the first era with mass protests or movements, but the size and coordination with which protests can erupt, seemingly overnight, does make the internet age different than those before it.Skilled GroupsAnother way disobedience is harnessed through the internet is with groups that can formulate attacks on cyber infrastructure. Disobedience like this makes a large impact, and for better or worse, is more possible with fewer people if they are skilled with technology. Hacking groups can make huge statements and cause mass disruption with small numbers. Like the Anonymous attack against BART or their hacking of Chinese government websites. Newton, Casey. “BART Website Hacked, Customer Info Leaked.” SFGATE, 14 Aug. 2011; Protalinski, Emil. “Anonymous Hacks Hundreds of Chinese Government Sites.” ZDNet, 4 Apr. 2012. Actions like this were less likely in the past because small groups of far-flung people could not impact corporations or state entities at the level these groups can. People operating in a hacker cooperative can be from all over the world, can be from any background as long as they are technologically sophisticated, which can be self-taught or informally learned. This puts a lot more power in the hands of everyday people, and allows for them to protest and disrupt the organizations or state entities that they oppose. Whether their grievances are valid is a question for another time, but there is little doubt that the internet and its connectivity allow for powerful forms of disobedience that is in the hands of a large amount of the populace around the world.ConclusionThe internet has allowed for increased disobedience in societies across the world. The advent of the internet and later, smartphones has eased information dispersal and allowed small groups to cause governmental or corporate disruption. People can organize at breakneck speed with communication devices and disrupt large entities even in small numbers. Because of this, protests and disruption have been more abrupt and quicker to light the fuse than in past periods. Whether this will continue into the late 2020s is yet to be seen but the modern internet certainly has the capacity to allow for it.You are entitled to restrict access to your paper if you want to. But we all derive immense benefit from reading one another's work, and I hope you won't feel the need unless the subject matter is personal and its disclosure would be harmful or undesirable. To restrict access to your paper simply delete the "#" character on the next two lines:
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