"Hacktivism", a portmanteau of the words hacker and activism, has been practiced in Italy. Hacktivism also encompasses the phenomenon of social hacking, which includes all activities of digital literacy, socialization with new technologies, creation of new virtual communities, advocacy of digital rights (cyberights), promotion of critical thinking regarding new technologies, and protests against communication technologies.
History
First attempts at alternative virtual communities The precursors of Italian hacktivism can be found in individuals and practices that, particularly from the second post-war period of the twentieth century, laid the theoretical and practical, relational and technical, cultural and counter-cultural foundations for the subsequent emergence of the so-called "hacktivism" in Italy. The first developments of Italian hacktivism emerged on BBS networks. The BBS network consisted of a computer dedicated to messaging that acted as a bulletin board where one could post a message visible to all users. For this to work, all computers had to be connected via a telephone line. Messages and information were circulated at night when connections cost less. In 1984, Giorgio Rutigliano decided to convert the lines of his computer services shop into a BBS node, which in 1986 became the first connection to the international FidoNet network. Unlike the Fidonet network, which had purely amateur purposes, other Italian BBS networks, particularly the European Counter Network (ECN) (1989) and Cybernet (1993), were used by activists who, thanks to them, could exchange messages freely, organize themselves, and create alternative virtual communities. In 1992, Peacelink was founded based on an idea by Marinelli and Marescotti with the aim of using telecommunications for peace. In 1992, Giovanni Pugliese managed to make it an independent BBS network. In relation to it, ScoutNet developed from the Associazione Guide e Scouts Cattolici Italiani, whose purpose was to connect Italian and international scouts. During the same period, BBS networks linked to cyberpunk and the extra-parliamentary left emerged. In 1989, the European Counter Network (ECN) was created in Italy to give life to an alternative Italian and European network. Following the wave of cyberpunk, in 1991, some individuals in that community proposed and obtained approval for the creation of a message forum called Cyberpunk.ita within the FidoNet network, which was later shut down in 1992 by Fidonet itself, as the freedom of expression within it was considered to run counter to the network's strict policies. In 1993, the Cybernet network was created, with first two nodes being Senza Confine Bbs (created in Macerata) and Hacker Art Bbs (created in 1990 in Florence by Tommaso Tozzi). The third and fourth nodes were Decoder Bbs (created in Milan by the homonymous magazine "Decoder", in 1993) and Bits Against The Empire. Initially, the networks listed above were based on two different conceptions of telematics. The area linked to ECN saw it as a tool for politics, while the area descending from cyberpunk saw telematics as a new way of communicating and of human action.
A period of legal pressure on Italian hackers In 1992, the law regarding copyright was extended to computer programs (legislative decree 518/92) and cybercrimes were introduced into the Penal Code. This gave rise to what has been called the Italian Crackdown, which refers to police operations against Bulletin Board Systems. Among the networks affected were those linked to activism. In particular, in 1994, the Public Prosecutor's Office of Taranto ordered the seizure of Taras Communication, which was the central node of PeaceLink. The seizures discouraged BBS administrators, including Giorgio Rutigliano, the father of FidoNet, who decided to shut down his operations.
Reactions to the crackdown The first reaction consisted of reopening the BBS that had been shut down. Cybernet, Peacelink, and ECN gave life to SYSOP.ITA until they managed to reestablish their independent networks. Furthermore, the PeaceLink Association and ALCEI were founded, which aimed to protect the telematic rights of citizens by invoking Article 21 of the Italian Constitution, which guarantees freedom of expression. The authors of Decoder wrote an article in the Manifesto in order to inform public opinion about the Italian crackdown. Raf Valvola Scelsi wrote No copyright, Nuovi diritti in 2000 in which he took a stand against the privatization of software. Another organization that spoke out in favor of no copyright was Strano Network. The latter, together with ECN, launched the Cyberights mailing list, in which police actions carried out against BBS were monitored. On February 19, 1995, Strano Network organized the conference "Diritto alla Comunicazione nello Scenario di Fine Millennio" at the Centro per l'arte contemporanea Luigi Pecci in Prato focusing on how to respond to the institutional actions that were taking place in Italy.
… excerpt ends here. Continue reading the full article.
