I was surprised and very much impressed with this article in the New York Times. The government of Estonia removed the bust of a Soviet war hero, and Russians didn’t take kindly to it. They held protests in the square where the statue was removed plus a slew of attacks on the “Estonian cyberspace.”
Digital resistance, anyone? Direct action via protests or riots combined with this type of digital action could really blossom into a force to be reckoned with. Imagine a rally planned some Friday night, in tandem with a digital riot. Do you see how effective that could be? Sadly, in this case it wasn’t. But I think the whole thing speaks volumes about the 21st century and activism.
The thing I don’t particularly agree with is the article’s depiction of these “hacktivists.” They speak about them as if they were bloodthirsty wolves. While I don’t think the way they went about it was the best,the article doesn’t really give hope for what this could set an example for.
