ABSTRACT
In May 2005, a small group of online activists called the Electronic Disturbance Theater staged a virtual sit-in. Their target was the website of the Minutemen Project, a vigilante organization which opposes immigration to the US, particularly from Mexico and Latin America. From 27 to 29 May, a claimed 78,500 people joined an online swarm that aimed to disrupt access to the Minutemen’s website as a symbolic gesture of opposition, analogous to a physical sit-in at the organization’s premises (Dominguez 2005; Kartenberg 2005; Jordan 2007). Such actions illustrate the practice of ‘electronic civil disobedience’ (ECD). The practice of ECD has been established since the mid-1990s and certain key characteristics have emerged – actions are publicized in advance in order to draw as many participants as possible; actions do not cause damage to the targeted site, but merely simulate a sit-in; actors are open about their goals and identities.
