What Is Internet Activism?

While analyzing the Deep Web’s interface functions to support its authenticity as a public sphere, there continue to be weaknesses that inhibit its mass adoption; the media. Much of the public and media interest in the Deep Web stemmed the arrests of the owners of Silk Road, an online store that exclusively sells illegal narcotics. With events like these, the media portrays the Deep Web as a paradise for technological criminals and hackers. For example, journalist John Merrel writes an article on the website Uwire, discussing the criminality of the Deep Web. Using language describing the Deep Web like “hidden” and “secret,” and horror stories like the use of hired assassins, the journalist supports the stereotype that the Deep Web only
harbours criminal behaviour despite its role as a public sphere. While these descriptions are misleading in their representation of the Deep Web as a whole, they represent what authors refer to as the Dark Web. According to Matt Egan, the Dark Web “refers specifically to a collection of websites that are publicly visible, but hide the IP addresses of the servers that run them.” Authors Ciancaglini, Balduzzi, Goncharov and McArdle find that these “Darknets” can be found to offer a variety of criminal marketplaces, like legal citizenship, counterfeit currencies and hackers for hire. With the ability to run illegal marketplace on Darknets with completely anonymity, the topic of ethics warrants discussion, asking whether the knowledge of atrocious behaviour adds ethical responsibility despite the aim of openly democratic virtual space? For the purpose of this argument, it can be concluded that criminal behaviour like hackers for hire, or counterfeiting money, already exists without the Deep Web. Therefore one cannot attribute the anonymity of the Deep Web to harbouring criminal behaviour. However, despite its controversial nature, many activities on the Deep Web can be interpreted as a formulation of public opinion. For example, in recent news, users of the Deep Web leaked data from a Canadian website called Ashley Madison, releasing the personal information of many users, resulting in a 760 million dollar class-action lawsuit. The action was undoubtedly in criminal nature, and has seen consequences to both the website and the lives of its users, however one can also interpret the leaking of Ashley Madison data as the rejection of adultery in society. In other words, it is evident that individuals came together to identify adultery, and its use in media like the internet, as a social issue, resulting in action that attempts to incite social change. It is important to distinguish that this observation is not condoning the criminal behaviour of infringing on other’s personal information, however it can be identified as a public opinion against adultery, produced by a public sphere on the Deep Web. The example of the Ashley Madison leaks being attributed to the formation of public opinion on a social issue supports the identification of Deep Web as a public sphere, using important themes like anonymity and independence.
However, as previously mentioned, the public sphere is an important political tool in democratic society because it gives citizens the power to influence political action. In consideration of Internet studies, the subject are of subcultures will be analyzed, identifying Internet activism as a major contribution to the influence of political action. The organization WikiLeaks will show how the Deep Web public sphere influences domestic political action, and the Arab Springs protests will demonstrate how the public sphere influences extraterritorial political action. First, WikiLeaks is a media organization that is known to publish and leak sensitive and secret governmental documents in the interest of public knowledge, resulting in political change. While many anonymous journalists are responsible for some of the leaks, the organization also allows anonymous submissions to be accepted through the use of Tor in mention of its security due to the technology. The influence of WikiLeaks on political action will be discussed further, however it is important to note the importance of openness within the WikiLeak organization subculture. By not having the ability to leak documents be restricted to journalists, WikiLeaks promotes the open and equal
contribution to political action, a characteristic found to be essential to the public sphere. In addition, this eliminates all hegemonic dominance as discussed by Nancy Fraser, allowing for inclusion without consideration of sex, ethnicity, or age. In recent history, the story of Edward Snowden and the leaked NSA files show how the Deep Web subculture of Internet activism contribute to the pressure of political change in its public sphere.
By using WikiLeaks as both a platform for releasing information and a form of financial support, Edward Snowden, a previous Central Intelligence Agency (CIA) employee, leaked documents which stated that Nation Security Agency (NSA) had launched several worldwide surveillance programs with help from telecommunications companies. The leak resulted in widespread public outcry in the concern of the government invading citizen’s privacy, as well as charges against Edward Snowden for espionage, resulting in him seeking asylum in Russia, where he currently resides. While his ethics behind the whistleblowing is highly debated amongst the public, the leaks have undoubtedly identified a social and political issues and concern with invasion of privacy with technology, resulting in the Deep Web causing political action in accordance with the purpose of a public sphere. In Canada for example, the 2015 federal election surrounded the privacy invasive Bill C-51 due to the public interest on the topic, with the know-elected Liberals looking to amend the bill, and the NDP opposition looking to abolish it. Thus, the Deep Web served as an anonymous space which allowed subcultures like activism with citizens like Snowden to identify a political and social issue, resulting in political change on a
domestic scale.