- Nov 2017
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Whoisthesubjectofthesedigitalrights?Sinceweareinterestedintheprocessesthroughwhichtheserightsareenactedratherthantheirsubstance,ourquestionof‘who’concernsthatofpoliticalsubjectivitythroughtheInternet.[4]Aswehaveexpresseditinvariousways,‘who’doesnotcorrespondtoanalreadyformedpoliticalsubjectbutafigure:Howisapoliticalsubjectbeingconstitutedasaclaimantofdigitalrights?Wehaveillustratedthroughoutthisbookthatdigitalactstraversemultiplenationalbordersandlegalorders.Yetmakingrightsclaimsthattraversebordersisoftenaddressedthroughsovereignregionalornationallegalordersandtheirparticularunderstandingofrights.
So the question of ‘who’ the subject is of digital rights is both an analytical but also an urgent political question that requires addressing. If we use ‘citizen’ as the subject of these rights, clearly it does not capture how both the enactment of the political subject and of cyberspace cut across national borders and legal orders. Today, the citizen functions as a member of a nation-state, and there are no corresponding rights and obligations beyond the nation-state that can govern subjects whose acts traverse international spaces. [...] What we gather from Rancière and Derrida is the importance of refusing to make a choice between the citizen and the human as the subject of digital rights. Instead, we anticipate a new figure of a citizen yet to come as the subject of digital rights.
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Witnessing,hacking,andcommoningarethreedigitalactsthathavebecomepossibleoverthepastfewyearsandhavecreatedopeningsforbeingdigitalcitizensinorbymakingrightsclaims.Theresignificationofexistingortheintroductionofnewconventionsmadetheseactspossible:Bitcoin,copyleft,CreativeCommons,Digg,GitHub,GNN,GNU,WikiLeaks,andmanyothers.Nodoubtsomeoftheseconventionswillbereplacedordisplacedbyothers.Somewillbecomedefunct.Somewillperhapspersistasatestamenttothedigitalcommons.Therewillcertainlybenewconventions.Whatenduresistheperformativeforcethathasgoneintomakingtheseopeningspossible.IfweunderstandcyberspaceasaspaceofrelationsbetweenandamongbodiesactingthroughtheInternet,witnessing,hacking,andcommoningresignifyorinventconventionsandmakepossibletheemergenceofnewwaysofbeingcitizensubjectsincyberspace.
[...] As we discussed earlier, just as many efforts are being expended on closings as these openings, cajoling and coercing them in various submissive ways and generally blocking possibilities. The digital commons is certainly a new frontier for struggles over commodification.[83] The main challenges to these creative forces emanate from state-security apparatuses and commerciallegal apparatuses. The main challenges to these creative forces emanate from state-security apparatuses and commerciallegal apparatuses. We have covered some of these closings, but here we want to restate the importance of open versus closed conventions of the Internet. Much has been said about Facebook, Flickr, Google, Tumblr, Twitter, and YouTube and their activities for tracking the conduct of people for advertising revenues and collecting big data. Let us emphasize that among one of the most important reasons that both state and corporate apparatuses are able to do this is because these are designed as proprietary and closed conventions. Unlike open conventions such as WordPress or Wikimedia, these conventions require submitting to end-user licences and user contracts that not only severely restrict actions but also appropriate their results as data. There is a massive difference between the digital commons created by open-source code and its increasing zoning, appropriation, sequestration, and enclosure through closed conventions. [...] Let us remember that cyberspace is a fragile if not a precarious space. This makes its protection as an open-source digital commons a political question—a question that those who are making digital rights claims are enacting with increasing effectiveness but also with urgency.
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OneaspectofhackerculturethatColemanhighlightsistheslogan‘codeisspeech’.[46]CodeisindeedthelanguageoftheInternet.Butisitspeech?FollowingAustin,wearguethatthroughspeechactswedosomethinginorbysayingsomething.Similarly,wewouldarguethatprogrammersaredoingsomethinginorbycodingsomething.Yet,toarticulatethismoreprecisely,codeisnotspeech:itisalanguageinorbywhichspeechactsareperformed.Justasinhumanlanguages,thedecisivethingsherearenotonlythelinguisticconventionsthatanimatespeechactsbutalsothesocialconventionsthattheybringabout
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Forus,probablythemostpertinentdistinctionisbetweenprogrammersandhackers.Inorbysayingsomethingincodeperformsbothillocutionaryandperlocutionaryacts.
The difference between programmers and hackers is, however, the effects of their acts, which have dramatically changed over time. Programmers are those— either employed by software companies or working independently—who make a living by writing code, which includes anything between snippets (short code) and apps. Hackers may also program code in this fashion, but the culture that gives them the name emanates from a distinct set of ethical and aesthetic values that combine to create a different kind of politics than programming does. This difference is hard to express, but it is also the difference that is of interest to us. It is hard to express perhaps because so much has been said and written about hackers—mostly negative. As a consequence, a unified, typically clandestine, selfish, young, male, and outlaw image has become dominant, which more recent studies have shown is grotesquely simplified. We want to argue that hackers are those whose acts break conventions of programming.
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- Oct 2017
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TheethicaldimensionbecomesevenclearerwhenAssangesays,‘Thosewhoarerepeatedlypassiveinthefaceofinjusticesoonfindtheircharactercorrodedintoservility.’[33]Toputitinourwords,citizensubjects,preciselybecauseoftheircapacitytojudge,arenotmerelyobedient(orservile)butalsosubversive.Thisisbecausesubmissiontoconventionsrequiresusingjudgementonthetermsofsubmission.Althoughthecitizensubjectsubmitstoconventions,becauseofthiscapacity,thecallofsubversiontoruptureaconventionalwaysretainsitsforce.Assangeclearlyappealsheretoanaspectofjournalisticethics—bearingwitness—butheresignifiesitpoliticallybyidentifyingitasacalltoact.ThedebateoverwhetherWikiLeaksisaplatformforjournalismorwhistle-blowingoverlooksthatitprimarilyenableswitnessing—thattheworldmayknow(differently).Itisoftenarguedthatsuchwhistle-blowingexposesclassifiedsecretsandendangerstheintelligenceworkofthestate.Butwhatwhistle-blowingexposesisthattherearethosewhofinditintolerabletowitnessabusesandmisusesofauthorityandnotsharethem.Ifbankersdeceive,soldiersmassacre,agenciessnoop,anddiplomatslie,citizenshavetherighttoknowthat.Citizenshavearighttoknowwhatstateandcorporateauthoritiesaredoingin,andoftenwith,theirname.WikiLeaksandwhistle-blowingingeneralareessentiallyclaimingthisrighttoknow.
[...] Their primary orientation is not towards the ethics of a profession but the right to witness and share acts of injustice
Vincular lo ético a lo político a través de la plataforma. Queda la pregunta aún de si hay alguna agenda oculta en el proceso curatorial de Wikileaks. Aplica el derecho a saber también a ellos en la medida en que son agentes de extremo poder?
Un ejemplo de atestiguar y compartir frente a la injusticia reciente: https://twitter.com/angelamrobledo/status/923306719891066885
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Ifthat’sthecase,wequestionwhetherthereshouldbeadifferentlabelforcuratorsandaggregatorsfortworeasons.Aswehaveargued,digitalactsinvolvedoingsomethingthroughvariousactionsnotconfinedtolanguagebutincludingimagesandsoundsaswellasthecoding,linking,andclassifyingofcontent.Second,theseactionsresignifyquestionsofanonymity,extensity,traceability,andvelocity.Theyenablethedisseminationofnewswithanonymityatalmostinstantaneousspeedthroughnumerousnetworks,andtheyleavetracesalongtheway.Asweshallnowargue,thisisindeedadistinctlycyberspaceenactmentofcitizenwitnessing
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Threeactsexpressmoststronglytheplayofobedience,submission,andsubversionthatcitizensubjectsengageintheconstitutionofclosings:filtering,wherecitizensubjectssubmittoregulateandprotectthemselvesoragreetobeprotectedbyauthorities,trackingwherecitizensubjectsenterintogamesofevasion,andnormalizingwherethewaysofbeingcitizensubjectsincyberspaceareiterativelymodulatedtowardsdesiredendsbyprivateandpublicauthorities.
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Wefocusonthreeactsthatsymbolizeparticularlywellthedemandsforopenness—participating,connecting,andsharing.Theseactsarenotallinclusive;therearecertainlyotheracts,buttheycoverwhatwesuggestarekeydigitalactsandtheirenablingdigitalactions
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Tounderstanddigitalactswehavetounderstandspeechactsorspeechthatacts.Thespeechthatactsmeansnotonlythatinorbysayingsomethingwearedoingsomethingbutalsothatinorbydoingsomethingwearesayingsomething.ItisinthissensethatwehaveargueddigitalactsaredifferentfromspeechactsonlyinsofarastheconventionstheyrepeatanditerateandconventionsthattheyresignifyareconventionsthataremadepossiblethroughtheInternet.Ultimately,digitalactsresignifyquestionsofanonymity,extensity,traceability,andvelocityinpoliticalways.
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Toputitsimply,whiledigitalactstraverseborders,digitalrightsdonot.Thisiswherewebelievethinkingaboutdigitalactsintermsoftheirlegality,performativity,andimaginaryiscrucialsincethereareinternationalandtransnationalspacesinwhichdigitalrightsarebeingclaimedthatifnotyetlegallyinforceareneverthelessemergingperformativelyandimaginatively.Yet,arguably,someemergingtransnationalandinternationallawsgoverningcyberspaceinturnarehavinganeffectonnationallegislations.Toputitdifferently,theclassicalargumentabouttherelationshipbetweenhumanrightsandcitizenshiprights,thattheformerarenormsandonlythelattercarrytheforceoflaw,isnotahelpfulstartingpoint.
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Theimportantthingistoseparateacts(locutionary,illocutionary
The important thing is to separate acts (locutionary, illocutionary, perlocutionary), forces (legal, performative, imaginary), conventions, actions, bodies, and spaces that their relations produce.
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Itiswellnighimpossibletomakedigitalutteranceswithoutatrace;onthecontrary,oftentheforceofadigitalspeechactdrawsitsstrengthfromthetracesthatitleaves.Aswesaidinchapter2,eachofthesequestionsraisedbydigitalactscanarguablybefoundinothertechnologiesofspeechacts—thetelegraph,megaphone,radio,andtelephonecometomindimmediately.Butitiswhentakentogetherthatwethinkdigitalactsresignifythesequestionsandcombinetomakethemdistinctfromspeechacts,intermsofboththeconventionsbywhichtheybecomepossibleandtheeffectsthattheyproduce.
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Digitalactswillnoteliminatedistance(weunderstanddistancehereasnotmerelyquantitativebutalsoaqualitativemetric),butthespeedwithwhichdigitalactscanreverberateisphenomenal.
Estos efectos de reverberación fueron sentidos en la Gobernatón y, en la medida en que se crea capacidad en la base y no sólo se reacciona, también se sienten en los Data Weeks, con menos potencia.
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‘codeistheonlylanguagethatisexecutable.’[49]‘So[forGalloway]codeisthefirstlanguagethatactuallydoeswhatitsays—itisamachineforconvertingmeaningintoaction.’[50]WithAustin(andWittgenstein),thisconclusioncomesasamajorsurprisetous.Aswehavearguedinthischapter,forAustin(andWittgenstein)languageisanactivity,andinorbysayingsomethinginlanguagewedosomethingwithit—weact.Toputitdifferently,languageisexecutable.[51]Thereisnouniquenesstocodeinthatregard,althoughwhilecodeislikelanguage,itisdifferent.WethinkthatdifferenceistobesoughtinitseffectsandtheconventionsitcreatesthroughtheInternetratherthaninitsostensibleuniquenature
El lenguaje es ejecutable!
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ThepremiseofthisbookisthatthecitizensubjectactingthroughtheInternetisthedigitalcitizenandthatthisisanewsubjectofpoliticswhoalsoactsthroughnewconventionsthatnotonlyinvolvedoingthingswithwordsbutdoingwordswiththings.
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Thistraversingofactsproducesconsiderablecomplexitiesinbecomingdigitalcitizens.Second,weneedtospecifytowhatextentcertainrightsclaimedbydigitalactsareclassicalrights(e.g.,freedomofspeech),towhatextenttheyareanalogoustoclassicalrights(e.g.,anonymity),andtowhatextenttheyarenew(e.g.,therighttobeforgotten).
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- Sep 2017
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wewillspecifydigitalacts—callings(demands,pressures,provocations),closings(tensions,conflicts,disputes),andopenings(opportunities,possibilities,beginnings)—aswaysofconductingourselvesthroughtheInternetanddiscusshowthesebringcyberspaceintobeing
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digitalactsresignifyfourpoliticalquestionsabouttheInternet
anonymity, extensity, traceability, and velocity.
El primero y el tercero ha estado permanentemente en el discurso de colectivos a los que he estado vinculado (RedPaTodos, HackBo, Grafoscopio, etc)
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Wearguethatmakingrightsclaimsinvolvesnotonlyperformativebutalsolegalandimaginaryforces.Wethenarguethatdigitalactsinvolveconventionsthatincludenotonlywordsbutalsoimagesandsoundsandvariousactionssuchasliking,coding,clicking,downloading,sorting,blocking,andquerying.
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