Interconnected Contests
149
larger problem: most small, independent organizations simply do not have the talent,
bandwidth, or connections to administer independent Web sites in the face of potential attack. The online environment not only offers new ways to reach a broad audience, inside a state and beyond, but also poses new challenges in keeping that online
accessible in the face of the many types of attacks described in this book.
There is a fi nal twist to the story. Citizens who wish to publish independent media
sites but who do not have signifi cant technical savvy are most likely to be able to
resist DDoS and related attacks by signing up with a large, free hosting service. These
services, such as Google ’ s Blogger or WordPress, are often run by large, for-profi t companies that are not based locally where the activists are situated. This approach was
the strategy used by http://bauxitevietnam.info in the attacks described at the beginning of this chapter, which Google ultimately diagnosed and then defended the site
by providing resistant hosting. The interconnected nature of these attacks, along with
the possible responses, puts citizens in Asia and elsewhere in common cause with
multinational companies based elsewhere, pitted together against an elusive opponent
that may or may not include their own state. Rebecca MacKinnon takes up this topic
in greater detail in chapter 10 of this volume.
Though increasingly unavoidable, this allegiance between human rights organizations and large corporations can be a tenuous and complicated one. In the fall of 2010,
when Wikileaks was subject to a DDoS attack after releasing U.S. State Department
cables, they turned to Amazon.com to serve their Web site.
15 A few days later, Amazon.
com decided to stop hosting Wikileaks, which continued to be subject to DDoS attacks,
just as the perceived allies of Wikileaks launched DDoS attacks against large banks and
others perceived to have turned against Wikileaks.
16 While these independent media
sites may have interests aligned with large corporate players to some extent, their
allegiance may break down in the context of pressure from states or other powerful
interests. It is important to note, however, that any ISP providing services to Wikileaks
would likely have come under political pressure from the U.S. government. It is possible that other providers would have acquiesced under similar pressure.
The days of simple fi ltering of offensive Web sites, in the manner pioneered by
Saudi Arabia and a few other states roughly a decade ago, are long past. The interplay
of this range of public and private actors and next-generation mechanisms in cyberspace is becoming increasingly complicated and unpredictable. Independent media
and human rights operations, especially in Asia, have a much harder job than ever
before to keep their Web sites accessible in times of confl ict.
Notes
1. BauxiteVietnam Blog, http://boxitvn.wordpress.com/ ; Bauxite Vietnam Web site, http://
bauxitevietnam.info ; John Ruwitch, “ Web Attacks Hit Vietnam Bauxite Activists: Google, ”
Reuters, April 2, 2010, http://www.reuters.com/article/idUSTRE62U0TM20100402 .
149
larger problem: most small, independent organizations simply do not have the talent,
bandwidth, or connections to administer independent Web sites in the face of potential attack. The online environment not only offers new ways to reach a broad audience, inside a state and beyond, but also poses new challenges in keeping that online
accessible in the face of the many types of attacks described in this book.
There is a fi nal twist to the story. Citizens who wish to publish independent media
sites but who do not have signifi cant technical savvy are most likely to be able to
resist DDoS and related attacks by signing up with a large, free hosting service. These
services, such as Google ’ s Blogger or WordPress, are often run by large, for-profi t companies that are not based locally where the activists are situated. This approach was
the strategy used by http://bauxitevietnam.info in the attacks described at the beginning of this chapter, which Google ultimately diagnosed and then defended the site
by providing resistant hosting. The interconnected nature of these attacks, along with
the possible responses, puts citizens in Asia and elsewhere in common cause with
multinational companies based elsewhere, pitted together against an elusive opponent
that may or may not include their own state. Rebecca MacKinnon takes up this topic
in greater detail in chapter 10 of this volume.
Though increasingly unavoidable, this allegiance between human rights organizations and large corporations can be a tenuous and complicated one. In the fall of 2010,
when Wikileaks was subject to a DDoS attack after releasing U.S. State Department
cables, they turned to Amazon.com to serve their Web site.
15 A few days later, Amazon.
com decided to stop hosting Wikileaks, which continued to be subject to DDoS attacks,
just as the perceived allies of Wikileaks launched DDoS attacks against large banks and
others perceived to have turned against Wikileaks.
16 While these independent media
sites may have interests aligned with large corporate players to some extent, their
allegiance may break down in the context of pressure from states or other powerful
interests. It is important to note, however, that any ISP providing services to Wikileaks
would likely have come under political pressure from the U.S. government. It is possible that other providers would have acquiesced under similar pressure.
The days of simple fi ltering of offensive Web sites, in the manner pioneered by
Saudi Arabia and a few other states roughly a decade ago, are long past. The interplay
of this range of public and private actors and next-generation mechanisms in cyberspace is becoming increasingly complicated and unpredictable. Independent media
and human rights operations, especially in Asia, have a much harder job than ever
before to keep their Web sites accessible in times of confl ict.
Notes
1. BauxiteVietnam Blog, http://boxitvn.wordpress.com/ ; Bauxite Vietnam Web site, http://
bauxitevietnam.info ; John Ruwitch, “ Web Attacks Hit Vietnam Bauxite Activists: Google, ”
Reuters, April 2, 2010, http://www.reuters.com/article/idUSTRE62U0TM20100402 .