ABSTRACT
Operation Electronic Leviathan was started in 2012 by the Pirate Party of Canada as an informational campaign that would programmatically resist warrantless surveillance, oppressive intellectual property regimes, and internet censorship that are embedded in bills in the Canadian Parliament. However, the operation also recognizes that the government is not the only participant in the creation of the electronic leviathan; there are also private companies, such as Twitter, Facebook, and Google, amongst other more secretive firms, that have elements that could feed into the electronic leviathan, such as Blue Coat or The Gamma Group. The information and programmatic campaign of the Pirate Party was later renamed Operation Encrypt Everything. This new name de-emphasized the transformation of the neoliberal state into the neoliberal surveillance state. The foundational idea of these campaigns was to leverage social media—such as wikis, Facebook, and Reddit—to inform people about the many possible dangers of using the internet and social media. These campaigns were especially engaged in warning the public about using the internet without using the proper tools to protect themselves and their representations online. In short, the idea was to teach people to use the internet and social media safely.
