In conversation with hacktivists (29 September 2014)

In Conversation with former Anonymous and Lulzsec hacktivists

Real Time Club meeting at the Royal Court Theatre to hear Gabriella Coleman, academic and anthropologist, in conversation with former Anonymous and Lulzsec hacktivists.

Former Anonymous and LulzSec hacktivists Mustafa Al-Bassam, Jake Davis, Darren Martyn and Ryan Ackroyd will appear together publically for first time since being convicted for computer hacking on the Royal Court Theatre stage, in conversation with Academic and Anthropologist Gabriella Coleman.

A ban forbidding communications between the pair, or any of the wider Anonymous collective was lifted in June this year, following a two year internet ban. This will be the very first time they have spoken since the day of the court case in 2011.

Drinks and discussion in the bar downstairs afterwards.

The panelists

Gabriella Coleman trained as an anthropologist and now teaches, researches, and writes on computer hackers. Her work examines the ethics of online collaboration/institutions as well as the role of the law and digital media in sustaining various forms of political activism. Her first book,Coding Freedom: The Aesthetics and the Ethics of Hacking is published by Princeton University Press and she is currently working on a new book on Anonymous and digital activism.

Mustafa Al-Bassam, Jake Davis,Darren Martyn and Ryan Ackroyd are all former computer hackers, who were part of a core group arrested in 2011 for their parts in Anonymous and LulzSec and banned from the internet for two years. Jake currently works on various film, theatrical and arts projects and offers script consultancy and technical advice around the subjects of hacking, the “deep web” and online culture. Mustafa is a student, studying Computer Science.