Fibreculture Journal (Jan 2006)
The Case of 'Mafiaboy' and the Rhetorical Limits of Hacktivism
Abstract
This article analyses the "Mafiaboy" case of 2000, in which a teenage hacker from Montréal brought down several blue chip American Web sites. What makes the subsequent court case compelling is that the categories and distinctions developed in the academic literature on hacker culture were shown to fit the Mafiaboy case too perfectly. They circulated with ease across defense and prosecution lines, yet upon closer inspection reveal themselves to be empty containers and rhetorically hollow. Via content analysis of an extensive media dossier, it is demonstrated that the mundane reality behind the media hype surrounding the case challenges the popular and political perception of the "hacker". Mafiaboy himself may have also discovered the incommensurability of his imagined future as a hacker legend and corporate security expert employee, and his everyday reality as a computer loving teen whose curiosity passed over into mischief with data, and beyond.
