QUOTE (FionaK @ 16/6/2011, 00:54)
What I am thinking about is what guerilla tactics divorced from violence can achieve: if we look to our masters it seems quite a lot. I am not techie: but they must make their deals through computers, and if they fail there are consequences for their systems: and we the people make them work. There are already "cyber attacks", so this idea is out there already. They do not seem to have much defence as yet: and I am sure that such tactics can be better organised and better targetted if we can develop a fuller understandng of how the system works. We have the means to do that too. For we are legion.
More to the content of your proposal here. I think you are right that it could be very problematic for these 'masters' if they would be prevented to use their computers to do deals. But communication through the internet is often 1-to-1 - or at least it could be made that way with intranet or VPN kind of protocols. So, I'm not sure if you can block that. You could make it more difficult, is all.
It does seem that authorities are worried about hackers: people are getting arrested for DDoS activities (Distributed Denial of Service attacks which disable websites).
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Anonymous_(gr...cement_agenciesAnd indeed sites like PayPal have been targeted (after PayPal refused to service WikiLeaks donations) which can be quite problematic. The blocking of informative websites like the cia's is petty in comparison, but it's the same technique.
But on the whole, I am not sure if these kind of attacks are the way to go. More effective is for example the leaking of sensitive information. WikiLeaks is doing a share of that, through whistleblowers and other defectors. But Anonymous actions have targeted information databases, before. The Sony Playstation user database, is one I am aware of. I'd expect the governmental databases to be more secure (I may HOPE so!) and the corporate ones even better (more likely). But top-hackers are known and feared for their wits. It may be that they manage to do some damage.
But that is not the kind of technology most of us can use, yet. DDoS software has been made available and user-friendly (but it is illegal, boys and girls!), so you can use your internet connection and computer power to contribute to those kinds of actions, at the risk of getting arrested at home. There is also software available that makes it hard or impossible to track your IP to your location (TOR), so there's a way to get around that. But, again, that is not so easy. You have to be a bit of a tech geek to participate in these tactics.
When you mention Guerilla tactics, though, there are simple applications available to us normal folk, now, which were not before. Indeed, the revolution in Egypt has been called the Facebook revolution, because people knew when and where to mobilize in a matter of minutes, through social networking sites Facebook and Twitter. That is very very fast. The police also have access to this information, and that is a potential downside. But if we can have some kind of isolated cells of instant messaging, then you could mobilize actions at lightning speed and disperse relevant information as it occurs. I think this is possible through things like google groups or facebook groups, and it's unique to our time and potentially powerful.
It is sophisticated. But you'd have to know what you are targeting. I think this kind of awareness isn't present just yet. People are just awaking to the idea that they have a voice in politics and that they have to take matters into their own hands, if they want to prevent the rich and powerful to exploit the rest of us. And so they re-invent democracy through massive protest. But there is a difference: "NO PASARAN", reads a banner in Greece. And underneath it, a smaller sign reading: "DEUTCHE ARBEITER AUFWECKEN" [sic] (translation: Wake up, German workers)
www.bbc.co.uk/news/world-europe-13773817 (see photo 2)
Everybody can access the lessons of history on the internet, and disseminate the new lessons immediately to a world-wide audience. That, too, I think, is new and valuable.
haha.