Inseparable: The Intersectionality of Hacking and Politics

by Josephus

Trigger Warning/Disclaimer:  This is not an easy topic for someone who does not have an open mind and only likes to be linear and stay in a bubble.  We will touch on points of racism, the prison industrial complex, media control, politics, and some other stuff that makes people squirm or, as I like to call it: "grown folks' business."  Understanding how all these things contribute to this discussion and doing it in a nuanced way is essential for a way forward for all of us, so if this isn't for you, read it anyway.  You might learn something and crack open that closed mind of yours!  Also, the views here are my own and not my employer's, organizations I support, so on and so forth.  Anyways, on with the show!

In the Winter 2016-17 issue of 2600 and on Off The Hook, the election (naturally, since this was a presidential election year in the U.S.) took up much of the discussion on the air and in the letters section of the magazine.  However, this kind of banter is not unusual for the hacker, computer science, information security, and the wider technology community, as what goes on in government tends to have an effect in our community.

No matter our specialty (lock picking, code breaking, social engineering, etc.), we are all hackers!  Similar to the concept that there is such thing - from a scientific point anyways - as "race" (Black, White, Brown, Beige, etc.), we are all human beings, yet we are all caught in the crossfire of politics.  For better or worse, all of us are caught up in the political machinations of the communities we live in - our sexual orientation, the schools we go to, the color of our skin, and even the jobs we have are, by their nature, a political action.  Whether hackers like it or not, the actions of hacking and hackers are inseparable from the politics they intentionally or unintentionally confront.

Keepin' it 100 on Intersectionality

We do not live in a binary world so, to frame it in red or blue state, 0 or 1, yes or no, and New York-style pizza or Chicago deep dish does not address the more nuanced and complex issues of life.  To take that deeper look, we will use the sociological framework of intersectionality and apply it to hacking and political activity so we can see why those two are, so to speak, joined at the hip.

Intersectionality is a sociological framework to understand and fix issues on a multidimensional - as opposed to singular - basis through multiple viewpoints from people of different genders, sexual orientation, racial categories, and beliefs.  The simplistic view of an issue (like racism or climate change) is O.K. for "polite" discussion, but a narrow scope is a poor substitute for a more robust and honest discussion.

Pretending that hacking and politics should be segregated, as if one doesn't have an effect on the other, is nothing more than "burying [y]our head[s] in the sand."

To paraphrase a popular meme: "One does not simply separate hacking from politics."

Hacking (the action and culture) is a political action by its definition as we have a clear disdain for authority and like to mess with stuff others simply just use.  Politics (for the sake of conversation) is about norms at the local level all the way to the national and international level that produce a steady stream of fairly predictable results.  Needless to say, when those "evil" hackers in our community have the gall to oppose the government having "backdoors" to our digital lives or opposing "good" legislation like SOPA and PIPA to stop "criminals" and "terrorists" from making money, we are committing a political act.  Not to be Hobbesian or anything, but let's be real about this: Whether or not we want to believe it or not, politics and hacking are about the same thing (in this context) and that is power through action.

Intersectionality in Action: Privacy vs. National Security

Politics and hacking are about extracting the maximum amount of power for the (real or perceived) greater good.  Whether the problem is how to disrupt terrorist plots or keep criminals from stealing our hard-earned money, there is a public "good" that we want to accomplish for ourselves and society in general.  To illustrate the intersectionality of hacking and politics, we can easily look no further than 2016's legal spat between Apple and the FBI over the iPhone belonging to one of the two shooters in the December 2015 San Bernardino terrorist attack.

I assume that most readers of this fine publication have heard about this spat, so I will get down to the intersectionality aspect of this incident.  However, if you haven't heard or need a refresher, check my references below, then come back to this section.

The premise of the FBI's court order - which used an archaic and often abused piece of legislation from 1789 called the "All Writs Act" - was national security (an abused term in and of itself) due to the possibility of crucial evidence possibly on the phone of one of the two shooters, Syed Farook.

Despite the "national security" argument from FBI Director James "Backdoor" Comey and other anti-encryption spokespeople like the New York City District Attorney Cyrus "Sidedoor" Vance, Apple said no on privacy grounds and the potential damage to its brand from angry customers (and shareholders).  Most hackers, privacy advocates, and our political supporters saw this as a BS reason for the FBI to get a legal win to create a standing they could use in court to backdoor encrypted phones.

In the end, the FBI backed off when they bought access to the phone from an Israeli company called (((Cellebrite))) or "professional hackers" using an unknown zero-day got into the iPhone.

Where's the Intersections?

Given the many cases of hacking and politics intersecting within the last two to three decades (e.g. people versus the MPAA concerning having legal access to their DVDs), I used this case because it was (1) recent and (2) showed a clear and relevant number of intersections between hacking and politics.  For brevity, here are two of the many intersections in this case:

1.)  Government vs. Privacy - In 2015, I had the "pleasure" of attending a conference in which both men spoke about how they were "going dark" due to encrypted cell phones and used "national security" and "law and order' BS to encourage the people there to support their cause of backdooring encrypted phones.  This fantasy of government types has been around for over 20 to 30 years now and is detailed in many past issues of 2600.

2.)  Dog Whistle Politics/Policy - When someone these days uses "law and order" and "going dark" with encryption, it refers to mainly two people/groups: Whites and conservatives and parents and/or Christians, respectively.

So, in one story that intersects hacking and politics, we don't find any racism or anti-Muslim bias, but a mass state surveillance of our private devices.

I Need You to Wake Up!

At the end of the day, we must realize we are not living in bubbles where everything has a clean separation.

Intersectionality is a method that explains and illustrates to our community that hacking is politics and that the "political" topics we try to shun often come back to our community in many ways.  So now that we see that our hacking is not and cannot be separated from politics (or the work of denouncing and bringing down systemic racism, sexism, patriarchy, etc.), what do we do?

It's actually simple: Wake up!

Don't stay woke!  Get informed!  Get moving!

References

Crenshaw, K.  "Demarginalizing the Intersection of Race and Sex: A Black Feminist Critique of Anti-discrimination Doctrine, Feminist Theory and Anti-racist Politics"  University of Chicago Legal Forum, 139-167  1989

Kharpal, A.  "Apple vs FBI: All You Need to Know"  CNBC  March 29, 2016

Rubin, J., Queally, J., & Dave, P.  "FBI Unlocks San Bernardino Shooter's iPhone and Ends Legal Battle with Apple, for Now"  Los Angeles Times  March 28, 2016