Gabriella Coleman: Hacker, Hoaxer, Whistleblower, Spy: The Many Faces of Anonymous (2014)
Filed under book | Tags: · activism, anonymous, anthropology, ddos, free speech, hacker culture, hacking, hacktivism, internet, internet culture, irc, lulzsec, politics, security, tactics, twitter, web, wikileaks
“A book on the worldwide movement of hackers, pranksters, and activists that operates under the non-name Anonymous.
Half a dozen years ago, anthropologist Gabriella Coleman set out to study the rise of this global phenomenon just as some of its members were turning to political protest and disruption (before Anonymous emerged as a player in the battles over WikiLeaks, the Arab Spring, and Occupy Wall Street). She ended up becoming closely connected to Anonymous and the story of her inside-outside status as Anon confidante, interpreter, and erstwhile mouthpiece forms one of the themes of this engrossing book.
The narrative brims with details unearthed from within a notoriously mysterious subculture, whose best-known tricksters – such as Topiary, tflow, Anachaos, and Sabu – emerge as complex, diverse, politically and culturally sophisticated people. Propelled by years of chats and encounters with a multitude of hackers, including imprisoned activist Jeremy Hammond and the double agent who helped put him away, Hector Monsegur, Hacker, Hoaxer, Whistleblower, Spy is filled with insights about digital activism and little understood facets of culture in the Internet age, including the history of “trolling,” the ethics and metaphysics of hacking, and the origins and manifold meanings of “the lulz.””
Publisher Verso Books, London and New York, November 2014
Creative Commons BY-NC-SA license
ISBN 1781685835, 9781781685839
452 pages
via Marcell
Reviews: Astra Taylor (Bookforum, 2014), Jamie Bartlett (Guardian, 2014), Hannah Kuchler (Financial Times, 2014), David Gilbert (IB Business Times, 2014), Haley Mlotek (National Post, 2014), Publishers Weekly (2014), Kirkus Reviews (2014), Nathalie Maréchal (Int’l J of Communication, 2015), Maxigas (Krisis, 2015).
Commentary: João Biehl & Naomi Zucker, Haidy Geismar, Adam Fish & Luca Follis, Tom Boellstorff, Gabriella Coleman (J Ethnographic Theory book symposium, 2015).
Debate with Gabriella Coleman, Cory Doctorow and James Bridle, London, 4 Nov
Comment (0)Chase Madar: The Passion of Bradley Manning (2012)
Filed under book | Tags: · biography, intelligence agency, law, leaking, military, security, whistleblowing, wikileaks
“In May 2010, an intelligence analyst in the US Army’s 10th Mountain Division was arrested on suspicion of leaking nearly half a million classified government documents, including the infamous “Collateral Murder” gunsight video and 260,000 State Department cables. After nine months in solitary confinement, the suspect now awaits court-martial in Fort Leavenworth. He is twenty-four, comes from Crescent, Oklahoma and his name is Bradley Manning.
Who is Private First Class Bradley Manning? Why did he allegedly commit the largest security breach in American history–and why was it so easy? Is Manning a traitor or a whistleblower? Is long-term isolation an outrage to American values–or the new norm? Are the leaks revolutionary or a sensational nonevent? Which is the greater security threat, routinized elite secrecy or flashes of transparency? And what impact does new information really have?
The astonishing leaks attributed to Bradley Manning are viewed from many angles, from Tunisia to Guantánamo Bay, from Foggy Bottom to Baghdad to small-town Oklahoma. Around the world, the eloquent alleged act of one young man obliges citizens to ask themselves if they have the right to know what their government is doing.”
Publisher OR Books, April 2012
ISBN 1935928538, 9781935928539
190 pages
United States v. Bradley Manning (Wikipedia)
1.5-hour special broadcast on the Bradley Manning verdict (Democracy Now!, 30 July 2013)
Table detailing verdict in Bradley Manning trial (AlexaOBrien.com)
Benedetta Brevini, Arne Hintz, Patrick McCurdy (eds.): Beyond WikiLeaks: Implications for the Future of Communications, Journalism and Society (2013)
Filed under book | Tags: · internet, internet activism, journalism, mass media, media activism, wikileaks
“Revelations published by the whistleblower platform WikiLeaks, including the releases of U.S. diplomatic cables in what became referred to as ‘Cablegate’, put WikiLeaks into the international spotlight and sparked intense about the role and impact of leaks in a digital era. Beyond WikiLeaks opens a space to reflect on the broader implications across political and media fields, and on the transformations that result from new forms of leak journalism and transparency activism. A select group of renowned scholars, international experts, and WikiLeaks ‘insiders’ discuss the consequences of the WikiLeaks saga for traditional media, international journalism, freedom of expression, policymaking, civil society, social change, and international politics. From short insider reports to elaborate and theoretically informed academic texts, the different chapters provide critical assessments of the current historical juncture of our mediatized society and offer outlooks of the future. Authors include, amongst others, Harvard University’s Yochai Benkler, Graham Murdoch of Loughborough University, net activism scholar, Gabriella Coleman, the Director for International Freedom of Expression at the Electronic Frontier Foundation, Jillian York, and Guardian editor, Chris Elliott. The book also includes a conversation between philosopher, Slavoj Zizek, and WikiLeaks founder, Julian Assange, and its prologue is written by Birgitta Jónsdóttir, Icelandic MP and editor of the WikiLeaks video, Collateral Murder.”
Publisher Palgrave Macmillan, 2013
ISBN 1137275758, 9781137275752
308 pages