Electronic Civil Disobedience and Student Activism Introduction Student apathy in Australia is at an all time high. Many students just don't care about the 'politics' of being a student whether it is within their own university or at a local, state or federal level - mostly because they have to work 2 jobs and study. Some students that do want to get more active are unsure of what to do and the whole 'protesting' and 'demonstrating' thing put some off. The Internet has been a revolutionary tool for most individuals and definitely for corporations. It has also been an ever-popular tool for universities. However, the Internet is also a powerful tool for the student activist. It gives students the ability to take part in campaigns from home without having to physically 'protest' or 'demonstrate'. This paper will give a general overview of how the Internet and email can be used for effective campaign organisation and activism. In particular it will also look at how electronic civil disobedience can be used to combat the evil that attacks the ideology of free and accessible education. Electronic Civil Disobedience In the struggle that we face from governments that seek to deny affordable and accessible higher education we have to be willing to consider non-conventional means of campaigning, protesting and demonstrating. What is electronic civil disobedience (ECD)? ECD is a legitimate form of non-violent, direct action utilised in order to bring pressure on institutions that engaged in unethical actions. Electronic civil disobedience aims to disrupt the operation of information and capital flows of carefully selected sites without causing serious damage. As with civil disobedience (physical street-level protesting and demonstrating) ECD seeks to trespass and block. For civil disobedience the contestation force must occupy entrances, exits and other key spaces in order to bring pressure on institutions. This concept is the same for ECD - blocking information pathways is analogous to blocking physical locations. However, ECD can cause financial stress that physical blockage cannot. Electronic civil disobedience can also be used beyond the local level where people across the world can be involved without having to be physically in the area. But how do you occupy virtual space - a concept that doesn't have any physical realness? A number of online collectives like the Electronic Disturbance Theatre (EDT) have created software that does just that - prevents access to information pathways and occupies virtual space. Essentially this software allows one user to 'call-up' a website or webpage up to 100 times per minute for a designated period of time with one simple push of a button. So if you have enough people doing this you can effectively stop a website or webpage from being viewed and used. This type of action is referred to as denial of service (DoS) action. It is a powerful way of making people that are trying to visit a targeted site aware of your issue and why you are undertaking this action. The Internet enables the broadest coverage and range of involvement, as it is not confined to 'news worthiness' of mainstream media or the local area. The Internet also enables a new way of organising and campaigning. However, there is a dark side. Since 11th of September, 2001 western governments have become more paranoid about people wanting to exercise their democratic right to protest and demonstrate. The federal government through its draconian anti-terrorist legislation could make ECD and an act of terrorism. However, under the cyber crimes act ECD could be deemed an illegal activity. It is difficult to say with certainty that an ECD such as a DoS would be illegal as the legislation has not been tested in such an instance. The cyber crimes act has been tested on pedophilia cases however the only cases that have been successful were those that confessed and accepted the prison deal. However, Australian Federal Police have had to admit that the legislation is not as ironclad as it could be, yet it is difficult to tighten such legislation. Using the Internet Electronic civil disobedience does not work effectively if you cannot alert people to the issues or activities. Most people think that using the Internet consists of creating a webpage or website and waiting for the visitors to flock to it. It simply doesn't work that way. The Internet and email has become such a powerful tool because people feel that they can maintain their anonymity. It has been strongly argued that it is for this reason that online activism has been able to develop. The Internet is a powerful tool but there is a combination of things that must be given consideration before you dash off and become a cyber activist - your website and email. There are 10 things you must consider in designing an effective campaign site. 1. Set out your goals. There is no need to make a huge list of 1000 goals. Simply put the main goal of your site/page is to raise awareness. 2. Define your audience. It is essential that you consider the types of people that you are trying to attract to your site/page. This will help with identifying goals and will help develop the tone of your site/page. 3. Give your site purpose. Create tools that help meet your goals. For example develop literature to inform your audience about the issue or create tools for use in the campaign e.g. sample letter template. 4. Define your site structure. It helps to map out your site for the basic sections. This will help you outline exactly what content needs to be developed and decide what is required for the site. The maps can also help with the site design itself and navigation. If your audience can't find something in 3 or less clicks, start again! 5. Develop your front page content. Be careful of what you place on your front page, as it is the first page that your audience will see when they visit. In these impatient times if any of your pages take longer than 10 seconds to load - redesign your pages! 6. Use email outreach effectively. This will be discussed in the next section. 7. Assign responsibilities. Staff provides the information but it is the responsibility of student representatives to get behind it and contribute throughout the process. 8. Market your site. If people are not visiting your site then you cannot achieve your goal. Use search engines, print, radio and TV. Make sure that student representatives actively promote the site. 9. Budget your expenses. No brainer! 10. Evaluate and refine. Get people other than those involved in the site's development to check it out and give you feedback. Make sure your student representatives are also involved. The Internet is also a powerful tool for getting people together without the hassle of having to meet physically and allows worldwide participation. The advent of newsgroups, chat rooms and 'online communities' has allowed people to get together to share opinions, thoughts and ideas - and more importantly form online collectives. These online collectives are a good way of getting feedback about issues or about your site as well as promoting your campaigns. Most importantly, your site and these online groups are an excellent way of developing your email contacts. Your website is essential for giving your audience the tools and information to involve themselves in your campaigns. It is also essential for collecting email addresses - and forming the online collectives. The website can include any information that is relevant to your campaign from media releases to leaflets. It is a tool and has to be used in that way. Promoting and marketing your site or page is essential to building a successful electronic campaign and for electronic civil disobedience. To successfully promote your site to your audience you must use online and offline methods. Essentially, online marketing refers to search engine listings, banner ads with search engines and banner ad sites (these can incur some expense) and using alternative online media outlets (e.g. crikey.com). Offline refers to using print, radio, television, billboards, leaflets and student representatives and staff talking about the site with students. Using Email Effectively Email is an essential part to any electronic civil disobedience effort and has been described as a building block of cyber activism. Email allows you to engage and alert your audience to upcoming events, actions and updates. Make sure your site allows visitors to leave their email address. Virtually all written material that your organisation produces on campaigns can be adapted for electronic distribution via email. However you need to make sure that you are creating email that is most appropriate for your audience. Some people that visit your site may not want to get involved in the core activist activities but they may wish to get regular information. Cater to your audience and offer a newsletter service and an action alert list for people to sign up. Building your email list is an ongoing process. You should also collect the email addresses for politicians, other organisations sympathetic to your cause, media outlets, journalists, other student organisations and student representatives. Email is a powerful tool for outreach. A simple keystroke or a single click of the mouse and you can reach 100's and 1000's of people, almost instantaneously. However, you need to make sure that the actual emails you send are outreach and not spam. The very last thing you want to do is put anyone off with unsolicited email. Email also allows the gathering of information from discussion lists (e.g. newsgroup lists) and feedback about campaign activities and updates. Here are some basic tips for making your email effective; 1. Keep your text short and focussed 2. Write a subject line that is compelling or provocative 3. Identify yourself 4. Make sure you always reply to emails 5. Delegate a specific student representative or staff member to reply to emails 6. Include contact information for decision-makers 7. Compile and maintain a list of the newsgroups and email lists you post to 8. Break up the text in long alerts with ASCII-friendly symbols. These symbols include * ~ ^ = + In cyber activist terms, email is essential for sending out action alerts. Action alerts are simply notices that let people know what action is taking place, when the action is taking place and what people can do. An action alert also very briefly outlines your issue and background. Action alerts have to been carefully written to ensure that it is as effective as possible. One vital aspect about using email as a method of engaging action is to create a BCC email list. The power of activism on the Internet and email is its capability of maintaining anonymity and by creating a BCC (blind carbon copy) email list; recipients do not know to whom else the email was sent. In developing the best possible email action alert you need to include the following attributes; § Make sure you clearly identify your organisation as the source of the action alert. This will build your profile and the profile of the issue. § Make sure you include contact information like email address, postal address, website address, phone number and fax number. You should also include the appropriate student representative's name, title and phone number (both office and mobile) of the representative to contact with questions. § Verify all facts that are included in your action alert. Once you have hit 'send' you cannot get it back to correct mistakes. Having mistakes or inaccurate facts will undermine your action alert and your organisation's credibility. § Make sure that you are specific with what you want people to do. If you want people to send faxes, letters and emails to politicians then tell them so. § Ensure you empower your audience so they can get involved by providing links to help people find out what electorate they are in and who is their elected representative. You can even include phone numbers, fax numbers, postal addresses and email addresses to further empower your audience. § Always include the date that your action alert is sent out and what date the action is set to take place. It is a good idea to tell them where the action will be happening if it involves a street-level action. § The subject line must never be left blank. Try to communicate a sense of urgency that will compel the recipient to read your action alert. Here are some basic questions you need to ask yourself before you send out action alert email - examples are provided at the back courtesy of Net Action (www.netaction.org); 1. Will the reader know who sent the action alert? 2. Will the reader know how to contact your organisation? 3. Will the reader know if the action alert is timely? 4. Will the reader be compelled to read the action alert? 5. Will the reader understand why action is important? 6. Will the reader know what action to take? 7. Are you sure of the facts? 8. Are you building your base of support? Email gives you the opportunity to spread the word to 100s and/or 1000s of people with the click of button. It is the workhorse of online activism and very easily caters for student activists. Electronic Civil Disobedience and Student Activism How does all of this relate to student activism? Electronic civil disobedience is way of complimenting current civil disobedience efforts of student activists. It also gives those that may not want to be 'seen' as an activist an opportunity to get involved in a legitimate form of action. To make electronic civil disobedience work it needs the support of a website and email. Your website is a tool for raising the awareness of issues, distributing information about issues and gathering support for an issue. Email is utilised for making people aware of what action is happening, when it is happening and where. Email is also a powerful tool to let 100s or 1000s of people know about an event almost instantaneously. Electronic civil disobedience is the action to make a point. It is the part of online student activism that will draw media attention, government attention and community attention. However, it is not successful without a website and email. Electronic civil disobedience can take on many forms from spamming politicians to denial of service actions and can even include hacktivism (hacking a website or webpage to protest or demonstrate). Email and the Internet have a remarkable potential for increasing the level of participation of students in campaigns that student organisation undertake from time to time. Since students are able to take part from their home or from computer laboratories it is a way of getting involvement without those students being identified as 'troublemakers' or 'radical misfits'. Furthermore, it is a great tool for student activists. Since it is quick and easy to use and requires little ongoing time commitment (unless there is a newsletter involved) student representatives can easily utilise electronic civil disobedience to help organise and drive campaigns. Finally, electronic civil disobedience should not be seen as replacing civil disobedience or conventional methods of campaigning, protesting or demonstrating. Rather is should be seen as a complimentary tool. It should be seen as a way of allowing students to get involved that may not normally get involved. In this age of information and knowledge, electronic civil disobedience has a strong role to play in campaigns of student organisations. Campaigning effectively must utilise all the tools available and electronic civil disobedience is another tool - lets use it to compliment our street level campaigns. Electronic Disturbance Theatre Electro Hippies The Hacktivist eactivist.org netaction.org