Computers and the internet define our modern society, yet the only groups that seem to be actively trying to subvert their power are criminals that’re only interested in stealing money for themselves or libertarian types that preach an unattainable cyber utopia ala John Perry Barlow and his clownish manifesto, “the declaration of the independence of cyberspace”. The closest hacktivists have ever gotten to challenging real power was when they targeted the police and began doxing them during the height of the occupy movement. Since then, virtually all hacktivist activity targeted against states appears to have been directed exclusively against the geopolitical targets of US imperialism, such as Anonymous, which made a declaration of war against Russia at the onset of its current conflict with Ukraine. It appears that these groups, who once openly attempted to challenge authorities in the west, have now instead been subsumed by them and dance to their tune.
So far, there has been no publicly visible attempt by communists to subvert these systems and put them to use in the service of class struggle. Why is it that we see ransomware being used to enrich cybercriminals when it would be better used to expropriate wealth for the revolutionary cause? Why do self-styled anti establishment hackers lend their skills to attack people thousands of miles away when their actual enemies are much closer to home? Why is there such an abundance of white hat stooges on the one hand that prop up corporate and state control of the internet, and black hat parasites on the other that view hacking simply as a tool for self-enrichment at other peoples’ expense, while red hat proletarian heroes seeking to harness the internet for workers’ power are nowhere to be seen?
Great question. There’s the so-called Lazarus Group which is supposedly based in DPRK, though I don’t believe it. Aside from that, the revolutionary potential of hacking in the current age is immense- we live in the age of internet-connected everything, industrial malware, ransomware, drones, AI, smartphones, and so on. One thing I’m worried about is that supposedly secure means of encrypted communication such as Tor might only be secure for those whose material interests don’t interfere with US State Department aims since the project has spooky origins, but it’s not like it’s the only way to communicate securely online. Well, it would be either becoming skilled hackers ourselves or radicalizing existing skilled hackers I guess.
We need to form a dedicated socialist school of some kind to train up cadre with the necessary hacking skills to begin wrestling with this problem. To get such a school established though there has to be pioneering comrades who are ready and willing to take on the considerable task of becoming competent at hacking and passing those skills to other revolutionaries.
well I’d belive there is correspondence already but I’m not aware of a coordinated hacking front…
I’m not sure how to organize this other than a who knows who…
Yeah the risk of infiltration for something like that is scary, not gonna lie. The best way to securely establish something like this would be for revolutionaries to develop their own security capabilities first, a whole range of activities that the organisation would have to prove themselves proficient in – activities that would easily get people chucked in prison – such as breaking and entering into peoples’ properties and tampering with devices to install things like keyloggers for spying purposes. Having dedicated people that can discreetly vet people in this way over the course of months could be the only real way to actually confirm whether or not someone is who they say they are.
Consider its a way to end up like Julian Assange. I have some ideas of actions and projects to take but I am not going to share them all rn.
If anyone is going to travel this road in real life they will have to think it through all the way to the impending criminal charges and manhunt. I wonder how difficult it’d be to get political asylum in the DPRK
From what I read, DPRK will officially grant anyone asylum from capitalist countries. But I’ve read that unofficially through the pipeline, they are likely to reject, as to not cause diplomatic incidents.
They’d have to link up with comrades and go international, basing themselves somewhere that doesn’t extradite to the west such as China, Ecuador or Cuba. Just as a 21st century communist international would obviously base its websites and mass media in servers beyond the reach of western authorities, its hacker revolutionaries would need to base themselves out of these places too. The more stringently they refuse extradition, the better. At a glance, I suppose the gold standard for that would be China.
The lesson of Assange is to not base yourself in the west if you want to carry out this kind of work. From the moment you make up your mind to carry out this work you need to cover yourself by relocating to somewhere that doesn’t extradite to the US or Europe before doing anything they’d lock you up for.
You certainly need to be a lot more careful when you are on their territory.
Consider you may want access to the US mainland to do some insurgent work.
With a proper division of labour that won’t be necessary. The principle role of hacker revolutionaries is to provide a powerful capability to their revolutionary organisation; the means to engage in remote electronic warfare as a form of class struggle. On the ground organisation can be handled by agitators specifically sanctioned and trained for that purpose. There’s no need to risk the neck of a valuable specialist like a hacker that can contribute just as much from their cosy home in Cuba as they can looking over their shoulder in hostile territory.
Keep me posted. I’m not an expert but I have ideas.
I remember reading about a communist hacktivist group in Turkey I think, that released the information of pigs and public officials.