Local Context
Chicago Hacktivists went under sieged in 2013. Jeremy Hammond and Aaron Swartz were sentenced to 10 and 35 years in prison, respectively, for committing cyber-crimes in the eyes of the law. Hammond, member of the hacking group known as Anonymous, was arrested for “hacking [into] a private intelligence firm [that] revealed how the government had monitored members of the Occupy Wall Street movement” (Smith 2013). Swartz was charged for hacking into MIT servers and releasing millions of scholarly articles, in which he claimed that “he was trying to free publicly funded research from behind a paywall” (Smith 2013). Hammond currently is imprisoned with several of supporters trying to free him while Swartz committed suicide two days after his second plea bargain failed. Chicago, being home to many hacktivists, should be in support of making these sorts of sentences not so harsh due to outdated acts. These hacktivists simply are performing acts of civil disobedience and must thank them for providing information we as a society would never know about.
Besides local hacktivists having harsh penalties, we as a city have our privacy at risk. There are many companies, like Exact Data of Chicago, that have access to our information, from our home addresses to what we often look up on the internet, in order to create mailings lists to help advertisers and promoters. For example, for $550, you can get a list of 7,500 people complete with their home address and e-mail (Rogers 2014). With companies like these, our private information, including what we search or use the internet for, is easily available to anyone with the money to purchase it.
Besides local hacktivists having harsh penalties, we as a city have our privacy at risk. There are many companies, like Exact Data of Chicago, that have access to our information, from our home addresses to what we often look up on the internet, in order to create mailings lists to help advertisers and promoters. For example, for $550, you can get a list of 7,500 people complete with their home address and e-mail (Rogers 2014). With companies like these, our private information, including what we search or use the internet for, is easily available to anyone with the money to purchase it.