Book review: Gabriella Coleman’s Hacker, Hoaxer, Whistleblower, Spy

In honour of Freedom to Read Week, our own Laura Tribe reviewed Gabriella Colaman's recently-published book looking at the world of Internet hackers.

February 21 - 27 marks Freedom to Read Week, an annual celebration of the right to intellectual freedom. Banned books may seem like a thing of the past, but I assure you, they still happen – and as we increasingly produce and share content online, digital censorship is a growing concern.

As a part of the week’s celebrations, the Book and Periodical Council assembles the Freedom to Read Review, a publication filled with resources on free expression, censorship, and celebrating, well... our freedom to read! This year, I had the chance to review Gabriella Coleman’s book, Hacker, Hoaxer, Whistleblower, Spy: The Many Faces of Anonymous, as a part of the annual Review.

Read the book review below (also on p.31), download the full Freedom to Read Kit, and find an event near you!

The world of internet hackers is a mystery to most of us. What we do see in the media reinforces stereotypes of hackers as meddlesome, mean spirited pranksters and criminals.

An in-depth, nuanced study of this subculture is long overdue, and it’s finally arrived in the form of Gabriella Coleman’s fascinating Hacker, Hoaxer, Whistleblower, Spy: The Many Faces of Anonymous.

Coleman, an anthropologist at McGill University, provides the ultimate guide to hacktivism through a detailed account of the rise of Anonymous, the secretive, shape-shifting collective that’s been linked to protests, disruption and cyberattacks worldwide.

Through a combination of serendipity and a keen sense of knowing when to follow a lead, Coleman managed to immerse herself in the hacker community and gain their trust. She walks readers through Anonymous’s growth over the course of six years.

At times getting quite technical, Coleman delves into the group’s operational details, creating a valuable documentation of its activities. However, her most important contribution may be the reminder that people don’t stop being human online.

Anonymous members are typically portrayed (by their own choosing) as faceless, but Coleman brings these characters—who are, of course, real people—to life. Highlighting extreme personalities and deep moral debates, she humanizes an activist group that most of us have, until now, been unable to relate to. Their internal discussions, structures and power dynamics are not unlike situations we have all experienced.

Transparent in her role as an academic, Coleman observed the group’s foray into online activism without intervening. Her insider access lets us relive events we previously watched from the outside, including the infamous attacks on MasterCard and PayPal for refusing to accept donations to WikiLeaks.

Along the way, Coleman describes her emotional journey and the stress of following these events so closely. She observes as Anonymous members are arrested or ostracized from the group. She suffers from fear and burnout.

But Coleman leaves questions unanswered. Did she ever see the group taking on activities she wanted to prevent? Did she ever feel compelled to intervene? Hacker, Hoaxer, Whistleblower, Spy is a valuable contribution to the broader discussion about Internet activism. It debunks myths about Anonymous and hackers in a way that humanizes the online world and makes it more relatable.

This piece by our Laura Tribe was originally published in the 2016 Freedom to Read Review