Molly Sauter

I am a second-year Masters student at MIT, studying digital activism at the Center for Civic Media at the Media Lab. I'm particularly interested in digital civil disobedience and disruptive protest, and my DDOS research encompasses a significant part of my master's thesis. I presented a preliminary version of this work at the HOPE conference in New York this past summer (notes and a recording of that talk can be viewed here: http://oddletters.com/2012/07/15/hope9-talk-activist-ddos-when-similes-and-metaphors-fail/). While that talk focused on the rhetorical framings of DDOS actions, this version concentrates on the ethics of such actions. Since HOPE, I have expanded the historical analysis significantly, including three additional case studies to more thoroughly cover the spectrum of potential actions. I've also encorporated a stronger theoretical underpinning for the ethical framework, which solidifies and strengthens the analysis overall. The general analysis has also been expanded to address larger issues implicated by DDOS actions, including the validity of disruptive tactics and public spaces online.