Abstract
During the 1980s, hackers expressed concern over informational freedom. In the 1990s, “hacktivists” used hacking techniques to speak out on political matters, targeting governments and corporations that try to censor and restrict access to information. Wikileaks is a hacktivist organization also involved in practicing “counter‐surveillance” designed to disrupt surveillance hierarchies and institutional power symmetries. Like Wikileaks, ordinary citizen‐users are also able increasingly to challenge state surveillance, monitoring, and censorship via new information and communication technologies, and social media platforms such as Twitter, Facebook, and YouTube. “Citizen journalists” have intervened to expose abuses of power by state actors, such as the police, and to overthrow repressive regimes, such as during the Arab Spring. While these technological developments provide opportunities for digital democracy, a “digital divide” has also emerged, reflecting differential Internet access across territories, social classes, and groups with varying degrees of political interest. State actors too have begun to experiment with digital forms of political participation, seeking public engagement on strategic policymaking issues, such as intergenerational injustice.