The Anonymous movement: the rise of human rights and hacktivism

Can hacktivist groups be justified as a legitimate form of political participation and action?

‘Hacktivism is a form of political activism in which computer hacking skills are heavily employed against powerful commercial institutions and governments, among other targets’ (Sorell, 2015, p.1). Typically, hackers have been negatively stereotyped as malicious thrill-seekers or cyberterrorists with the pure intention to create chaos (Bartlett, 2014). However, increasingly, political or social causes in the real world are what motivates them to create the tools to provide freedom of speech in the digital perimeter for those living in oppressive nations (Still, 2005).