ICT policy activism on a national level: Ideas, resources and strategies of German civil society in governance processes

Abstract

This article deals with ICT policy activism on a national level and studies the case of Germany, where ICT policy activism became known to the public through its protest against the blocking of websites and data retention. Civil society is a political actor here, being invited to policy consultations. Drawing on the governance approach and resource mobilization theory, we interviewed 20 leading ICT policy activists about their values and goals, and forms of organization and political protest. According to their different focuses we distinguished between four types of activism: privacy protection, free access to information, free software and open standards, and equal opportunities for women in ICT policy. These activists are particular in that their political claims focus on the tools they are using for mobilizing and organizing. However, offline forms of protest still play an important role and mass media coverage is still seen as one of the main resources.

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“…Scholars also focussed on particular groups of actors involved in national internet policy-making, for instance activists, internet intermediaries or political parties (e.g. Breindl & Briatte, 2013;DeNardis & Hackl, 2015;Löblich & Wendelin, 2012;Macq & Jacquet, 2018). Others analysed the growing number of initiatives regarding national charters for internet rights such as the comprehensive Marco Civil framework in Brazil or similar initiatives in Europe (e.g., Cristofoletti, 2015;Gill, Redeker, & Gasser, 2015;Padovani & Santaniello, 2018).…”