Electronic Disturbance Theater
Encyclopedia
Ricardo Dominguez
, Brett Stalbaum, Stefan Wray, and Carmin Karasic are collectively known as The Electronic Disturbance Theater or EDT for short. Taking the idea of the American Civil Rights Movement
of the 1960s, the EDT members always used their real names. They never concealed their identities
. As a collective group they organize and program computer software
to show their views against anti-propagandist and military
actions, and begin mobilizing micro-networks to act in solidarity by staging virtual sit-ins on-line and allowing the emergence of a collective presence in direct digital actions.
, is a small company of cyber activists and performance artists who engage in the development in both the theory and practice of non-violent acts of defiance. The EDT created a program to allow Electronic Civil Disobedience
(ECD) called FloodNet
a form of hacktivism
which would help create the simulation of a sit-in
protest over the internet
simply known as a virtual sit-in
demonstration to disrupt Zapatista oppressors' websites, by overloading their computer networks and servers
. The Electronic Disturbance Theater group have the belief that the Internet
should not be used purely as a means for communication
and data exchange
. Instead it is also a forum for direct action.
, Micha Cárdenas
and Ricardo Dominguez. The group has received a storm of media attention for their new project, the Transborder Immigrant Tool, which they have described as the next step of Electronic Civil Disobedience, or ECD 2.0. The group is currently under investigation for their Virtual Sit-In in support of March 4 strikes and occupations in support of public education. The Transborder Immigrant Tool was shown in numerous museums and galleries in 2010, including the California Biennial at the Orange County Museum of Art, the Museum of Contemporary Art, San Diego and Galeria de la Raza in San Francisco.
and internet
based technology
, to cause online
civil disobedience
in support of the Zapatista
rebels residing in the state of Chiapas
in Mexico
. EDT uses both e-mail
and the internet
to promote their work around the world, encouraging fellow supporters to download and run a HTML
(Hyper Text Makeup Language) and Java applet
, (a internet program used to help support interactive web based features or programs that a HTML
cannot provide alone), based tool called FloodNet
a computer based program, created by members of the Electronic Disturbance theater company Carmin Karasic and Brett Stalbaum. The FloodNet
program would simply reload a Uniform Resource Locator or URL for short several times; effectively slowing the website
and network server down, if a high number of protesters were to join in the sit-in
at one time. The EDT would first execute the FloodNet
software in what would be for them a dress rehearsal before attacking their main targets on April 10 and a month later 1998, on both Mexican and American government websites, representing both the Mexican President Ernesto Zedillo
and American President Bill Clinton
.
The Flood Net would work on this basic idea taken from street theatre practices and political rallies and protest but instead present it on a much larger and international stage, with the facilitation of macro-networks and non-digital forms of action.
The EDT’s mission was to allow the voices of the Zapatista
to be heard, after the attack of the small remote village of Acteal
in Chiapas, Mexico. The Paramilitary
a government funded military squad would surround a catholic church during a Tsotsil Mayan, (a spoken Mexican language from around the Chiapas area of Mexico), for the next several hours the Paramilitary
would shot everyone to death. Those inside the church and any which tried to escape resulting in the death of fifteen children, nine men, and twenty one women, four of which were pregnant at the time on December 22, 1997. This event would become known as the Acteal Massacre
. Those who were convicted of this crime were later released in the Supreme Court
to the outrage of many, after ignoring eye witness reports and allowing those that confessed to this crime on humanity. Instead the Supreme Court focused on the mismanagement of the investigation and the fabrication of evidence.
The Electronic Disturbance Theater took notice of these actions, when others did not and arranged their first act of Electronic Civil Disobedience
against the Mexican Government. In a subsequent version of FloodNet, those that had downloaded the FloodNet
program
in support of the Zapatista’s were asked the input the names repetitively of those that had lost their life’s at the hands of the Mexican Army in military attacks. This would then target the servers
to return an error message each time these URL’s would be requested. This data request would then be stored on a server’s error log and in the eyes of the Zapatista
and the Electronic Disturbance Theater group, a symbol
ic list of those forty five Acteal
civilians that had died straight to their murderers. If enough people were to use the FloodNet
applet
, this would cause the computer server running the website
to overload, so that when a regular visitor or somebody working within the site was to try and access the website
or send company based emails and files, the pages would ether load extremely slowly or not at all. Working off the same basis of a real sit-in
demonstration, where the protestors block the entrance to a public building of their oppressors and preventing access to the building.
With around twenty five percent of the world’s population, in one way or another connected to the World Wide Web
, with the use of dial-up internet connection, wired or wireless internet broadband
connection and even mobile internet technology, everyone of these means of communication
can allow the internet to be used as a means of non-violent action within our Human Rights
, and is viewable around the world, and can be translated into different languages but most importantly not controlled by the government
. The EDT networked performances have already opened access and communication
between three unlikely micro-networks: net.art
, net.activism, and net.hackers, with technology
always evolving there is no telling how these areas will grow.
However June 10, 1998, the EDT would strike the Mexican Secretaria de Gobernacion, (Secretary of Government), which is involved in immigration policies as well as Mexico’s federal public security forces working in conjunction with the military
against Zapatista
communities in Chiapas
unsuccessfully. The Mexican government would have a program
med countermeasure
in place. This is what the EDT believe took place. A countermeasure
built into the operating JavaScript
was placed in the Secretaria de Gobernacion’s website
that was designed to activate whenever FloodNet
was directed toward its servers
. Upon activation, the website
would open window after window on the FloodNet
user’s internet browser. If the FloodNet
user remained connected long enough, their browser whether it is Netscape
or Internet Explorer
, could crash the activist's computer, forcing the activist to reboot their system stopping the FloodNet
program at the source. The EDT has now since dealt with both the Mexican Government both online
and offline, and the United States Department of Defense
, who has now inserted a counter attack system into their Internet Browser based coding to prevent any more FloodNet
based attacks to the system and server
.
The FloodNet
system would be used again against the World Trade Organization
in 1999, where the group would release their online
civil disobedience
software to the public under the name ‘’Disturbance Development’s Kit.’’
, hacktivism
, and to a much larger scale extremes acts of cyber terrorism. Many people do have the right and believe in free speech. The FloodNet
programs does allow this in a safer way to the protestors, (as their real identities
can be hidden under their user names.), allowed people around the world to express their views on the subject without travelling to the protest rallies and provide a non-violent way to be heard in the form of these sit-in
demonstrations, however this causes incorrect actions that block bandwidth
, and the internet
should be open for everybody no matter what their political views. The Virtual Republic representatives view this blocking of communications and data
as an act of cyber terrorism. They believe the system should be open for all internet
users, and be accessible with a simple point then click and to those individuals or groups should be banned. Protestors are asked to protest
outside of their oppressors location, with signs and don’t interact with the business inside which with the blocking of communication
and data
the EDT are doing. Against such self-evident truths, the digital agit-prop actions of EDT call for the right to block data
in the struggle for the development of democracy
and human rights
.
Ricardo Dominguez (professor)
Ricardo Dominguez is an artist and associate professor of visual arts at UC San Diego. He has been the subject of controversy over a number of acts of electronic civil disobedience on his own and with the Electronic Disturbance Theater, which he co-founded.Dominguez, the founder of the Electronic...
, Brett Stalbaum, Stefan Wray, and Carmin Karasic are collectively known as The Electronic Disturbance Theater or EDT for short. Taking the idea of the American Civil Rights Movement
Civil rights movement
The civil rights movement was a worldwide political movement for equality before the law occurring between approximately 1950 and 1980. In many situations it took the form of campaigns of civil resistance aimed at achieving change by nonviolent forms of resistance. In some situations it was...
of the 1960s, the EDT members always used their real names. They never concealed their identities
Identity (social science)
Identity is a term used to describe a person's conception and expression of their individuality or group affiliations . The term is used more specifically in psychology and sociology, and is given a great deal of attention in social psychology...
. As a collective group they organize and program computer software
Computer software
Computer software, or just software, is a collection of computer programs and related data that provide the instructions for telling a computer what to do and how to do it....
to show their views against anti-propagandist and military
Military
A military is an organization authorized by its greater society to use lethal force, usually including use of weapons, in defending its country by combating actual or perceived threats. The military may have additional functions of use to its greater society, such as advancing a political agenda e.g...
actions, and begin mobilizing micro-networks to act in solidarity by staging virtual sit-ins on-line and allowing the emergence of a collective presence in direct digital actions.
Background
The Electronic Disturbance Theater (EDT) formed in 1997, by performance artist and published writer Ricardo DominguezRicardo Dominguez (professor)
Ricardo Dominguez is an artist and associate professor of visual arts at UC San Diego. He has been the subject of controversy over a number of acts of electronic civil disobedience on his own and with the Electronic Disturbance Theater, which he co-founded.Dominguez, the founder of the Electronic...
, is a small company of cyber activists and performance artists who engage in the development in both the theory and practice of non-violent acts of defiance. The EDT created a program to allow Electronic Civil Disobedience
Electronic civil disobedience
Electronic civil disobedience, also known as ECD or cyber civil disobedience, can refer to any type of civil disobedience in which the participants use information technology to carry out their actions. Electronic civil disobedience often involves the computers and/or the Internet and may also be...
(ECD) called FloodNet
FloodNet
The Zapatista Tactical FloodNet is a Java Applet that assists in the execution of virtual sit-ins by automatically reloading the targeted website several times every minute. Additionally, it allows for users to post statements to the site by sending them to the server log.FloodNet was created by...
a form of hacktivism
Hacktivism
Hacktivism is the use of computers and computer networks as a means of protest to promote political ends. The term was first coined in 1994 by a member of the Cult of the Dead Cow hacker collective named Omega...
which would help create the simulation of a sit-in
Sit-in
A sit-in or sit-down is a form of protest that involves occupying seats or sitting down on the floor of an establishment.-Process:In a sit-in, protesters remain until they are evicted, usually by force, or arrested, or until their requests have been met...
protest over the internet
Internet
The Internet is a global system of interconnected computer networks that use the standard Internet protocol suite to serve billions of users worldwide...
simply known as a virtual sit-in
Virtual sit-in
A virtual sit-in is a form of electronic civil disobedience deriving its name from the sit-ins popular during the civil rights movement of the 1960s. The virtual sit-in attempts to recreate that same action digitally using a distributed denial-of-service attack. During a virtual sit-in, hundreds of...
demonstration to disrupt Zapatista oppressors' websites, by overloading their computer networks and servers
Server (computing)
In the context of client-server architecture, a server is a computer program running to serve the requests of other programs, the "clients". Thus, the "server" performs some computational task on behalf of "clients"...
. The Electronic Disturbance Theater group have the belief that the Internet
Internet
The Internet is a global system of interconnected computer networks that use the standard Internet protocol suite to serve billions of users worldwide...
should not be used purely as a means for communication
Communication
Communication is the activity of conveying meaningful information. Communication requires a sender, a message, and an intended recipient, although the receiver need not be present or aware of the sender's intent to communicate at the time of communication; thus communication can occur across vast...
and data exchange
Data exchange
Data exchange is the process of taking data structured under a source schema and actually transforming it into data structured under a target schema, so that the target data is an accurate representation of the source data. Data exchange is similar to the related concept of data integration except...
. Instead it is also a forum for direct action.
Electronic Disturbance Theater 2.0
Current active members of the Electronic Disturbance Theater, who refer to themselves at Electronic Disturbance Theater 2.0 include Brett Stalbaum, Amy Sara Carroll, Elle MehrmandElle Mehrmand
Elle Mehrmand is a new media performance artist and musician. Mehrmand's work combines the body and electronics. Her performance art work has been presented at museums, galleries and art festivals throughout the Americas...
, Micha Cárdenas
Micha Cárdenas
Micha Cárdenas is a transgender performance and new media artist. Her work deals with the interplay of technology, gender, sex, immigration and biopolitics. She currently lives and works in Los Angeles.- Education :...
and Ricardo Dominguez. The group has received a storm of media attention for their new project, the Transborder Immigrant Tool, which they have described as the next step of Electronic Civil Disobedience, or ECD 2.0. The group is currently under investigation for their Virtual Sit-In in support of March 4 strikes and occupations in support of public education. The Transborder Immigrant Tool was shown in numerous museums and galleries in 2010, including the California Biennial at the Orange County Museum of Art, the Museum of Contemporary Art, San Diego and Galeria de la Raza in San Francisco.
FloodNet
Their objective was with the use of digital mediaDigital media
Digital media is a form of electronic media where data is stored in digital form. It can refer to the technical aspect of storage and transmission Digital media is a form of electronic media where data is stored in digital (as opposed to analog) form. It can refer to the technical aspect of...
and internet
Internet
The Internet is a global system of interconnected computer networks that use the standard Internet protocol suite to serve billions of users worldwide...
based technology
Technology
Technology is the making, usage, and knowledge of tools, machines, techniques, crafts, systems or methods of organization in order to solve a problem or perform a specific function. It can also refer to the collection of such tools, machinery, and procedures. The word technology comes ;...
, to cause online
ONLINE
ONLINE is a magazine for information systems first published in 1977. The publisher Online, Inc. was founded the year before. In May 2002, Information Today, Inc. acquired the assets of Online Inc....
civil disobedience
Civil disobedience
Civil disobedience is the active, professed refusal to obey certain laws, demands, and commands of a government, or of an occupying international power. Civil disobedience is commonly, though not always, defined as being nonviolent resistance. It is one form of civil resistance...
in support of the Zapatista
Zapatista Army of National Liberation
The Zapatista Army of National Liberation is a revolutionary leftist group based in Chiapas, the southernmost state of Mexico....
rebels residing in the state of Chiapas
Chiapas
Chiapas officially Estado Libre y Soberano de Chiapas is one of the 31 states that, with the Federal District, comprise the 32 Federal Entities of Mexico. It is divided in 118 municipalities and its capital city is Tuxtla Gutierrez. Other important cites in Chiapas include San Cristóbal de las...
in Mexico
Mexico
The United Mexican States , commonly known as Mexico , is a federal constitutional republic in North America. It is bordered on the north by the United States; on the south and west by the Pacific Ocean; on the southeast by Guatemala, Belize, and the Caribbean Sea; and on the east by the Gulf of...
. EDT uses both e-mail
E-mail
Electronic mail, commonly known as email or e-mail, is a method of exchanging digital messages from an author to one or more recipients. Modern email operates across the Internet or other computer networks. Some early email systems required that the author and the recipient both be online at the...
and the internet
Internet
The Internet is a global system of interconnected computer networks that use the standard Internet protocol suite to serve billions of users worldwide...
to promote their work around the world, encouraging fellow supporters to download and run a HTML
HTML
HyperText Markup Language is the predominant markup language for web pages. HTML elements are the basic building-blocks of webpages....
(Hyper Text Makeup Language) and Java applet
Java applet
A Java applet is an applet delivered to users in the form of Java bytecode. Java applets can run in a Web browser using a Java Virtual Machine , or in Sun's AppletViewer, a stand-alone tool for testing applets...
, (a internet program used to help support interactive web based features or programs that a HTML
HTML
HyperText Markup Language is the predominant markup language for web pages. HTML elements are the basic building-blocks of webpages....
cannot provide alone), based tool called FloodNet
FloodNet
The Zapatista Tactical FloodNet is a Java Applet that assists in the execution of virtual sit-ins by automatically reloading the targeted website several times every minute. Additionally, it allows for users to post statements to the site by sending them to the server log.FloodNet was created by...
a computer based program, created by members of the Electronic Disturbance theater company Carmin Karasic and Brett Stalbaum. The FloodNet
FloodNet
The Zapatista Tactical FloodNet is a Java Applet that assists in the execution of virtual sit-ins by automatically reloading the targeted website several times every minute. Additionally, it allows for users to post statements to the site by sending them to the server log.FloodNet was created by...
program would simply reload a Uniform Resource Locator or URL for short several times; effectively slowing the website
Website
A website, also written as Web site, web site, or simply site, is a collection of related web pages containing images, videos or other digital assets. A website is hosted on at least one web server, accessible via a network such as the Internet or a private local area network through an Internet...
and network server down, if a high number of protesters were to join in the sit-in
Sit-in
A sit-in or sit-down is a form of protest that involves occupying seats or sitting down on the floor of an establishment.-Process:In a sit-in, protesters remain until they are evicted, usually by force, or arrested, or until their requests have been met...
at one time. The EDT would first execute the FloodNet
FloodNet
The Zapatista Tactical FloodNet is a Java Applet that assists in the execution of virtual sit-ins by automatically reloading the targeted website several times every minute. Additionally, it allows for users to post statements to the site by sending them to the server log.FloodNet was created by...
software in what would be for them a dress rehearsal before attacking their main targets on April 10 and a month later 1998, on both Mexican and American government websites, representing both the Mexican President Ernesto Zedillo
Ernesto Zedillo
Ernesto Zedillo Ponce de León is a Mexican economist and politician. He served as President of Mexico from December 1, 1994 to November 30, 2000, as the last of the uninterrupted seventy year line of Mexican presidents from the Institutional Revolutionary Party...
and American President Bill Clinton
Bill Clinton
William Jefferson "Bill" Clinton is an American politician who served as the 42nd President of the United States from 1993 to 2001. Inaugurated at age 46, he was the third-youngest president. He took office at the end of the Cold War, and was the first president of the baby boomer generation...
.
The Flood Net would work on this basic idea taken from street theatre practices and political rallies and protest but instead present it on a much larger and international stage, with the facilitation of macro-networks and non-digital forms of action.
The EDT’s mission was to allow the voices of the Zapatista
Zapatista Army of National Liberation
The Zapatista Army of National Liberation is a revolutionary leftist group based in Chiapas, the southernmost state of Mexico....
to be heard, after the attack of the small remote village of Acteal
Acteal
Acteal is a small village in the municipality of Chenalhó, in the Mexican state of Chiapas, about 20 km north of San Cristóbal de las Casas. It became known internationally at the end of 1997 for the massacre of 45 indigenous people....
in Chiapas, Mexico. The Paramilitary
Paramilitary
A paramilitary is a force whose function and organization are similar to those of a professional military, but which is not considered part of a state's formal armed forces....
a government funded military squad would surround a catholic church during a Tsotsil Mayan, (a spoken Mexican language from around the Chiapas area of Mexico), for the next several hours the Paramilitary
Paramilitary
A paramilitary is a force whose function and organization are similar to those of a professional military, but which is not considered part of a state's formal armed forces....
would shot everyone to death. Those inside the church and any which tried to escape resulting in the death of fifteen children, nine men, and twenty one women, four of which were pregnant at the time on December 22, 1997. This event would become known as the Acteal Massacre
Acteal massacre
The Acteal Massacre was a massacre of 45 people attending a prayer meeting of Roman Catholic indigenous townspeople, including a number of children and pregnant women, who were members of the pacifist group Las Abejas , in the small village of Acteal in the municipality of Chenalhó, in the Mexican...
. Those who were convicted of this crime were later released in the Supreme Court
Supreme court
A supreme court is the highest court within the hierarchy of many legal jurisdictions. Other descriptions for such courts include court of last resort, instance court, judgment court, high court, or apex court...
to the outrage of many, after ignoring eye witness reports and allowing those that confessed to this crime on humanity. Instead the Supreme Court focused on the mismanagement of the investigation and the fabrication of evidence.
The Electronic Disturbance Theater took notice of these actions, when others did not and arranged their first act of Electronic Civil Disobedience
Electronic civil disobedience
Electronic civil disobedience, also known as ECD or cyber civil disobedience, can refer to any type of civil disobedience in which the participants use information technology to carry out their actions. Electronic civil disobedience often involves the computers and/or the Internet and may also be...
against the Mexican Government. In a subsequent version of FloodNet, those that had downloaded the FloodNet
FloodNet
The Zapatista Tactical FloodNet is a Java Applet that assists in the execution of virtual sit-ins by automatically reloading the targeted website several times every minute. Additionally, it allows for users to post statements to the site by sending them to the server log.FloodNet was created by...
program
Computer program
A computer program is a sequence of instructions written to perform a specified task with a computer. A computer requires programs to function, typically executing the program's instructions in a central processor. The program has an executable form that the computer can use directly to execute...
in support of the Zapatista’s were asked the input the names repetitively of those that had lost their life’s at the hands of the Mexican Army in military attacks. This would then target the servers
Server (computing)
In the context of client-server architecture, a server is a computer program running to serve the requests of other programs, the "clients". Thus, the "server" performs some computational task on behalf of "clients"...
to return an error message each time these URL’s would be requested. This data request would then be stored on a server’s error log and in the eyes of the Zapatista
Zapatista Army of National Liberation
The Zapatista Army of National Liberation is a revolutionary leftist group based in Chiapas, the southernmost state of Mexico....
and the Electronic Disturbance Theater group, a symbol
Symbol
A symbol is something which represents an idea, a physical entity or a process but is distinct from it. The purpose of a symbol is to communicate meaning. For example, a red octagon may be a symbol for "STOP". On a map, a picture of a tent might represent a campsite. Numerals are symbols for...
ic list of those forty five Acteal
Acteal
Acteal is a small village in the municipality of Chenalhó, in the Mexican state of Chiapas, about 20 km north of San Cristóbal de las Casas. It became known internationally at the end of 1997 for the massacre of 45 indigenous people....
civilians that had died straight to their murderers. If enough people were to use the FloodNet
FloodNet
The Zapatista Tactical FloodNet is a Java Applet that assists in the execution of virtual sit-ins by automatically reloading the targeted website several times every minute. Additionally, it allows for users to post statements to the site by sending them to the server log.FloodNet was created by...
applet
Applet
In computing, an applet is any small application that performs one specific task that runs within the scope of a larger program, often as a plug-in. An applet typically also refers to Java applets, i.e., programs written in the Java programming language that are included in a web page...
, this would cause the computer server running the website
Website
A website, also written as Web site, web site, or simply site, is a collection of related web pages containing images, videos or other digital assets. A website is hosted on at least one web server, accessible via a network such as the Internet or a private local area network through an Internet...
to overload, so that when a regular visitor or somebody working within the site was to try and access the website
Website
A website, also written as Web site, web site, or simply site, is a collection of related web pages containing images, videos or other digital assets. A website is hosted on at least one web server, accessible via a network such as the Internet or a private local area network through an Internet...
or send company based emails and files, the pages would ether load extremely slowly or not at all. Working off the same basis of a real sit-in
Sit-in
A sit-in or sit-down is a form of protest that involves occupying seats or sitting down on the floor of an establishment.-Process:In a sit-in, protesters remain until they are evicted, usually by force, or arrested, or until their requests have been met...
demonstration, where the protestors block the entrance to a public building of their oppressors and preventing access to the building.
With around twenty five percent of the world’s population, in one way or another connected to the World Wide Web
World Wide Web
The World Wide Web is a system of interlinked hypertext documents accessed via the Internet...
, with the use of dial-up internet connection, wired or wireless internet broadband
Broadband
The term broadband refers to a telecommunications signal or device of greater bandwidth, in some sense, than another standard or usual signal or device . Different criteria for "broad" have been applied in different contexts and at different times...
connection and even mobile internet technology, everyone of these means of communication
Communication
Communication is the activity of conveying meaningful information. Communication requires a sender, a message, and an intended recipient, although the receiver need not be present or aware of the sender's intent to communicate at the time of communication; thus communication can occur across vast...
can allow the internet to be used as a means of non-violent action within our Human Rights
Human rights
Human rights are "commonly understood as inalienable fundamental rights to which a person is inherently entitled simply because she or he is a human being." Human rights are thus conceived as universal and egalitarian . These rights may exist as natural rights or as legal rights, in both national...
, and is viewable around the world, and can be translated into different languages but most importantly not controlled by the government
Government
Government refers to the legislators, administrators, and arbitrators in the administrative bureaucracy who control a state at a given time, and to the system of government by which they are organized...
. The EDT networked performances have already opened access and communication
Communication
Communication is the activity of conveying meaningful information. Communication requires a sender, a message, and an intended recipient, although the receiver need not be present or aware of the sender's intent to communicate at the time of communication; thus communication can occur across vast...
between three unlikely micro-networks: net.art
Net.art
"net.art" refers to a group of artists who worked in the medium of Internet art from 1994. The main members of this movement are Vuk Ćosić, Jodi.org, Alexei Shulgin, Olia Lialina, and Heath Bunting...
, net.activism, and net.hackers, with technology
Technology
Technology is the making, usage, and knowledge of tools, machines, techniques, crafts, systems or methods of organization in order to solve a problem or perform a specific function. It can also refer to the collection of such tools, machinery, and procedures. The word technology comes ;...
always evolving there is no telling how these areas will grow.
However June 10, 1998, the EDT would strike the Mexican Secretaria de Gobernacion, (Secretary of Government), which is involved in immigration policies as well as Mexico’s federal public security forces working in conjunction with the military
Military
A military is an organization authorized by its greater society to use lethal force, usually including use of weapons, in defending its country by combating actual or perceived threats. The military may have additional functions of use to its greater society, such as advancing a political agenda e.g...
against Zapatista
Zapatista Army of National Liberation
The Zapatista Army of National Liberation is a revolutionary leftist group based in Chiapas, the southernmost state of Mexico....
communities in Chiapas
Chiapas
Chiapas officially Estado Libre y Soberano de Chiapas is one of the 31 states that, with the Federal District, comprise the 32 Federal Entities of Mexico. It is divided in 118 municipalities and its capital city is Tuxtla Gutierrez. Other important cites in Chiapas include San Cristóbal de las...
unsuccessfully. The Mexican government would have a program
Program (machine)
A program is a list of instructions written in a programming language that is used to control the behavior of a machine, often a computer ....
med countermeasure
Countermeasure
A countermeasure is a measure or action taken to counter or offset another one. As a general concept it implies precision, and is any technological or tactical solution or system designed to prevent an undesirable outcome in the process...
in place. This is what the EDT believe took place. A countermeasure
Countermeasure
A countermeasure is a measure or action taken to counter or offset another one. As a general concept it implies precision, and is any technological or tactical solution or system designed to prevent an undesirable outcome in the process...
built into the operating JavaScript
JavaScript
JavaScript is a prototype-based scripting language that is dynamic, weakly typed and has first-class functions. It is a multi-paradigm language, supporting object-oriented, imperative, and functional programming styles....
was placed in the Secretaria de Gobernacion’s website
Website
A website, also written as Web site, web site, or simply site, is a collection of related web pages containing images, videos or other digital assets. A website is hosted on at least one web server, accessible via a network such as the Internet or a private local area network through an Internet...
that was designed to activate whenever FloodNet
FloodNet
The Zapatista Tactical FloodNet is a Java Applet that assists in the execution of virtual sit-ins by automatically reloading the targeted website several times every minute. Additionally, it allows for users to post statements to the site by sending them to the server log.FloodNet was created by...
was directed toward its servers
Server (computing)
In the context of client-server architecture, a server is a computer program running to serve the requests of other programs, the "clients". Thus, the "server" performs some computational task on behalf of "clients"...
. Upon activation, the website
Website
A website, also written as Web site, web site, or simply site, is a collection of related web pages containing images, videos or other digital assets. A website is hosted on at least one web server, accessible via a network such as the Internet or a private local area network through an Internet...
would open window after window on the FloodNet
FloodNet
The Zapatista Tactical FloodNet is a Java Applet that assists in the execution of virtual sit-ins by automatically reloading the targeted website several times every minute. Additionally, it allows for users to post statements to the site by sending them to the server log.FloodNet was created by...
user’s internet browser. If the FloodNet
FloodNet
The Zapatista Tactical FloodNet is a Java Applet that assists in the execution of virtual sit-ins by automatically reloading the targeted website several times every minute. Additionally, it allows for users to post statements to the site by sending them to the server log.FloodNet was created by...
user remained connected long enough, their browser whether it is Netscape
Netscape
Netscape Communications is a US computer services company, best known for Netscape Navigator, its web browser. When it was an independent company, its headquarters were in Mountain View, California...
or Internet Explorer
Internet Explorer
Windows Internet Explorer is a series of graphical web browsers developed by Microsoft and included as part of the Microsoft Windows line of operating systems, starting in 1995. It was first released as part of the add-on package Plus! for Windows 95 that year...
, could crash the activist's computer, forcing the activist to reboot their system stopping the FloodNet
FloodNet
The Zapatista Tactical FloodNet is a Java Applet that assists in the execution of virtual sit-ins by automatically reloading the targeted website several times every minute. Additionally, it allows for users to post statements to the site by sending them to the server log.FloodNet was created by...
program at the source. The EDT has now since dealt with both the Mexican Government both online
ONLINE
ONLINE is a magazine for information systems first published in 1977. The publisher Online, Inc. was founded the year before. In May 2002, Information Today, Inc. acquired the assets of Online Inc....
and offline, and the United States Department of Defense
United States Department of Defense
The United States Department of Defense is the U.S...
, who has now inserted a counter attack system into their Internet Browser based coding to prevent any more FloodNet
FloodNet
The Zapatista Tactical FloodNet is a Java Applet that assists in the execution of virtual sit-ins by automatically reloading the targeted website several times every minute. Additionally, it allows for users to post statements to the site by sending them to the server log.FloodNet was created by...
based attacks to the system and server
Server (computing)
In the context of client-server architecture, a server is a computer program running to serve the requests of other programs, the "clients". Thus, the "server" performs some computational task on behalf of "clients"...
.
The FloodNet
FloodNet
The Zapatista Tactical FloodNet is a Java Applet that assists in the execution of virtual sit-ins by automatically reloading the targeted website several times every minute. Additionally, it allows for users to post statements to the site by sending them to the server log.FloodNet was created by...
system would be used again against the World Trade Organization
World Trade Organization
The World Trade Organization is an organization that intends to supervise and liberalize international trade. The organization officially commenced on January 1, 1995 under the Marrakech Agreement, replacing the General Agreement on Tariffs and Trade , which commenced in 1948...
in 1999, where the group would release their online
ONLINE
ONLINE is a magazine for information systems first published in 1977. The publisher Online, Inc. was founded the year before. In May 2002, Information Today, Inc. acquired the assets of Online Inc....
civil disobedience
Civil disobedience
Civil disobedience is the active, professed refusal to obey certain laws, demands, and commands of a government, or of an occupying international power. Civil disobedience is commonly, though not always, defined as being nonviolent resistance. It is one form of civil resistance...
software to the public under the name ‘’Disturbance Development’s Kit.’’
Cyber Terrorism?
The Electronic Disturbance Theater has and will remain a heated topic of debate, within its area of political up rise, civil disobedienceCivil disobedience
Civil disobedience is the active, professed refusal to obey certain laws, demands, and commands of a government, or of an occupying international power. Civil disobedience is commonly, though not always, defined as being nonviolent resistance. It is one form of civil resistance...
, hacktivism
Hacktivism
Hacktivism is the use of computers and computer networks as a means of protest to promote political ends. The term was first coined in 1994 by a member of the Cult of the Dead Cow hacker collective named Omega...
, and to a much larger scale extremes acts of cyber terrorism. Many people do have the right and believe in free speech. The FloodNet
FloodNet
The Zapatista Tactical FloodNet is a Java Applet that assists in the execution of virtual sit-ins by automatically reloading the targeted website several times every minute. Additionally, it allows for users to post statements to the site by sending them to the server log.FloodNet was created by...
programs does allow this in a safer way to the protestors, (as their real identities
Identity (social science)
Identity is a term used to describe a person's conception and expression of their individuality or group affiliations . The term is used more specifically in psychology and sociology, and is given a great deal of attention in social psychology...
can be hidden under their user names.), allowed people around the world to express their views on the subject without travelling to the protest rallies and provide a non-violent way to be heard in the form of these sit-in
Sit-in
A sit-in or sit-down is a form of protest that involves occupying seats or sitting down on the floor of an establishment.-Process:In a sit-in, protesters remain until they are evicted, usually by force, or arrested, or until their requests have been met...
demonstrations, however this causes incorrect actions that block bandwidth
Bandwidth (computing)
In computer networking and computer science, bandwidth, network bandwidth, data bandwidth, or digital bandwidth is a measure of available or consumed data communication resources expressed in bits/second or multiples of it .Note that in textbooks on wireless communications, modem data transmission,...
, and the internet
Internet
The Internet is a global system of interconnected computer networks that use the standard Internet protocol suite to serve billions of users worldwide...
should be open for everybody no matter what their political views. The Virtual Republic representatives view this blocking of communications and data
Data
The term data refers to qualitative or quantitative attributes of a variable or set of variables. Data are typically the results of measurements and can be the basis of graphs, images, or observations of a set of variables. Data are often viewed as the lowest level of abstraction from which...
as an act of cyber terrorism. They believe the system should be open for all internet
Internet
The Internet is a global system of interconnected computer networks that use the standard Internet protocol suite to serve billions of users worldwide...
users, and be accessible with a simple point then click and to those individuals or groups should be banned. Protestors are asked to protest
Protest
A protest is an expression of objection, by words or by actions, to particular events, policies or situations. Protests can take many different forms, from individual statements to mass demonstrations...
outside of their oppressors location, with signs and don’t interact with the business inside which with the blocking of communication
Communication
Communication is the activity of conveying meaningful information. Communication requires a sender, a message, and an intended recipient, although the receiver need not be present or aware of the sender's intent to communicate at the time of communication; thus communication can occur across vast...
and data
Data
The term data refers to qualitative or quantitative attributes of a variable or set of variables. Data are typically the results of measurements and can be the basis of graphs, images, or observations of a set of variables. Data are often viewed as the lowest level of abstraction from which...
the EDT are doing. Against such self-evident truths, the digital agit-prop actions of EDT call for the right to block data
Data
The term data refers to qualitative or quantitative attributes of a variable or set of variables. Data are typically the results of measurements and can be the basis of graphs, images, or observations of a set of variables. Data are often viewed as the lowest level of abstraction from which...
in the struggle for the development of democracy
Democracy
Democracy is generally defined as a form of government in which all adult citizens have an equal say in the decisions that affect their lives. Ideally, this includes equal participation in the proposal, development and passage of legislation into law...
and human rights
Human rights
Human rights are "commonly understood as inalienable fundamental rights to which a person is inherently entitled simply because she or he is a human being." Human rights are thus conceived as universal and egalitarian . These rights may exist as natural rights or as legal rights, in both national...
.