Hacktivists from the Inside: Collective Identity, Target Selection and Tactical Use of Media during the Quebec Maple Spring Protests

Abstract

Much of the research on Anonymous has studied the group from an ethnographic perspective or focused on social media posts to learn what is most important for the movement. There have been only few attempts to analyze how hacktivists are choosing suitable targets for cyberattacks with protest objectives. The present study attempts to provide insight into their shared values by looking at interactions among Anonymous members on public chatrooms during the four months of the Quebec student demonstrations known as the 2012 Printemps Érable protests. A thematic analysis was performed to categorize the important themes. The results show that the core values of Anonymous’s group is congruent to that of Anonymous’s social media accounts, emphasizing freedom of expression, often linked to freedom of speech and freedom of information as integral to the target selection process. Also, participants in the chatroom proposed traditionally suitable targets (i.e., the government, the police, political parties) and seems to agree upon which targets should be rejected such as traditional news media, deemed important to diffuse its message and provide information about its operations.

Keywords

• hacktivism
• anonymous
• online disobedience
• values
• cybercrime