ABSTRACT
This chapter considers how cyberspace is being weaponised. The language is certainly interesting and it is noted that some refer to hacktivism as ‘electronic civil disobedience’ which is an interesting analogy to offline protests where people tend to talk about disobedience rather than criminality even though there is no such distinction in law. Unlike other forms of hacktivism, information theft has consequences for individuals. Whilst a company may be embarrassed by having its customer list displayed, the list of names and passwords could compromise the individual customer. Sme have drawn an analogy between certain forms of hacktivism and the civil rights era, particularly in the USA. If hacktivism was the first part of the continuum then cyberwarfare is at the other end. This is arguably less about law and more about war, but it is well-known that international law prescribes rules for war.
