Coding democracy : how a growing hacking movement is disrupting concentrations of power, mass surveillance, and authoritarianism in the digital age

413 Pages·2020·5.509 MB·English

by  Maureen Webb, Cory Doctorow

CODING DEMOCRACY

CODING DEMOCRACY
HOW HACKERS ARE DISRUPTING POWER,
SURVEILLANCE, AND AUTHORITARIANISM
MAUREEN WEBB
FOREWORD BY CORY DOCTOROW
THE MIT PRESS CAMBRIDGE, MASSACHUSETTS LONDON, ENGLAND
© 2020 Maureen Webb
All rights reserved. No part of this book may be reproduced in any form by any
electronic or mechanical means (including photocopying, recording, or information
storage and retrieval) without permission in writing from the publisher.
This book was set in ITC Stone and Avenir by Toppan Best-set Premedia Limited.
Library of Congress Cataloging- in- Publication Data
Names: Webb, Maureen, author. | Doctorow, Cory, writer of foreword.
Title: Coding democracy : how hackers are disrupting power, surveillance,
and authoritarianism / Maureen Webb.
Description: Cambridge, MA : MIT Press, [2020] | Includes bibliographical
references and index.
Identifiers: LCCN 2019018826 | ISBN 9780262043557 (hardcover : alk. paper)
Subjects: LCSH: Hacktivism. | Cyberspace-- Political aspects. |
Internet- - Social aspects. | Hacktivism. | Computer security. |
Internet- - Social aspects. | Democratization.
Classification: LCC HV6773 .W427 2020 | DDC 364.16/8-- dc23 LC record available
at https://lccn.loc.gov/2019018826
10 9 8 7 6 5 4 3 2 1
To those in precarious situations

CONTENTS
FOREWORD BY CORY DOCTOROW xi
AUTHOR’S NOTE xv
ACKNOWLEDGMENTS xix
1 THE HACKER ETHIC: GERMANY’S CHAOS COMPUTER CLUB AND
THE GENEALOGY OF THE HACKER ETHOS 1
In Berlin 1
Getting to the Chaos Commmunication Camp 2
First- Wave Hackers: Hacking Culture in the US from the Late 1950s, including the
Hands- On Imperative and Other Principles of a Hacker Ethos 5
Second- Wave Hackers: Computers and Code for the People, including the People’s
Computer Company, The WELL, Homebrew, Silicon Valley, RMS, and Free
Software 10
First- Wave Europe: The Early Development of European Hacker Culture in the
1970s and 1980s 13
The Early Days of the Chaos Computer Club 15
1989: A Watershed Year for Germany and the CCC 18
The Fall of the Wall 21
The 1990s: Hackerdom Expands, Silicon Valley Takes Off, and a Schism Develops
between the Philosophies of Proprietary Software and Free Software 22
First Impressions: Be Excellent to Each Other 29
viii Contents
2 THE HACKER CHALLENGE: CYPHERPUNKS ON THE ELECTRONIC
FRONTIER 33
Third- Wave Hackers: The Cypherpunks 33
Fellow Travelers, Reluctant Heroes, and the Cryptowars of the 1990s 40
The Smart-A ss Antipodean 51
3 A MANIFESTO FOR THE TWENTY- FIRST CENTURY: PRIVACY FOR
THE WEAK, TRANSPARENCY FOR THE POWERFUL 53
Code Is Law, and the Onion Router Proves It 53
WikiLeaks 56
A New Kind of Cypherpunk 60
Snowden 65
A Manifesto for the Twenty- first Century and the Concept of Popular
Sovereignty 68
4 THE BURDEN OF SECURITY: THE CHALLENGES FOR THE
ORDINARY USER 71
Security 101 71
The Sakharovs 78
Berlin: City of Freedom, City of Exiles 79
A Cryptoparty 84
5 DEMOCRACY IN CYBERSPACE: FIRST, THE GOVERNANCE
PROBLEMS 93
Harry 93
Internet Governance: “Loraxes Who Speak for the Trees” 95
Harry Redux 98
Of Trees and Tongues 101
What Is Democracy? Or How to Govern Democratically in a World That Is No
Longer Flat? 105
Hacker Governance: Noisy Square 108
6 CULTURE CLASH: HERMES AND THE ITALIAN HACKINGTEAM 111
The Italian Embassy 111
Black, White, and Gray 114
7 DEMOCRACY IN CYBERSPACE: THEN THE DESIGN PROBLEMS 125
The Problem of Provable Security 125
The Problem of Designing Privacy- Preserving Protocols 127
Email: A Case in Point 130
Remaking the Internet for the Twenty-f irst Century 135