Re: Defacing as a tool

[Chuck0 <chuck@tao.ca>]

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Michael Clark wrote:
> 
> [: hacktivism :]
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> I disagree with ZoeScanner's points #3 and #8,  the use of defacing as a tool.
> 
> Defacing is not appropriate on- or off-line. Does that mean "they"
> (whoever "they" are) have the right to deface a church or synagogue's
> web site or physical meeting place?  I don't see any difference
> between on-line and off-line. Can you make a case for it? Thanks,
> Michael

Yes. Defacing property is a form of free speech. It is not censoring,
because it is not an ongoing attempt to restrict what the other party is
saying. Posting a defaced page to a website is a temporary annoyance.
The same thing goes for a tag applied to a building. Graffiti can always
be washed off.

I prefer parody websites over hacking into a server, but I recognize the
political importance of defacing websites. It's the same thing as pieing
somebody in a position of authority.

I see that Michael is posting from an account with the Center for
Democracy and Technology. It looks like CDT does alot of great stuff,
but I'm very disturbed by the prominent link to GetNetWise, which is an
industry attempt to make censorware palatable to the masses. As a long
time activist against library filtering, and as somebody with a website
that has been banned by many schools, I find this ad placement to be
pretty odd coming from an organization which has a graphic right above
that purports to be about "protecting political speech online."

Shit, if somebody defaced my website, there are millions of teenagers
and library users who couldn't see the hack. In my view, the creeping
acceptance of censorware is far more disturbing than a defaced website.

-- 
Chuck0

Mid-Atlantic Infoshop
http://www.infoshop.org/

Leonard Peltier Freedom Month 
Executive Clemency For Peltier!
http://www.freepeltier.org/lpfreedommonth.html

Free Mumia Abu-Jamal Now!
http://www.infoshop.org/gulag/mumia_idx.html

"A society is a healthy society only to the degree 
that it exhibits anarchistic traits." 
        - Jens Bjørneboe


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