n.
A computer hacker who breaks into systems to further an activist agenda. Also: hactivist.
Example Citation:
"Members of the Hong Kong Blondes, a covert group, claim to have gotten into Chinese military computers and to have temporarily shut down a communications satellite last year in a 'hacktivist' protest. 'The ultimate aim is to use hacktivism to ameliorate human rights conditions,' says Oxblood Ruffin, a member of the Toronto-based Cult of the Dead Cow ( www.cultdeadcow.com: http://www.cultdeadcow.com), one of the oldest hacker groups in North America, who serves as unofficial spokesman for the having-more-fun Blondes."
— Bay Fang, "Chinese 'hacktivists' spin a Web of trouble," U.S. News & World Report
Earliest Citation:
Ever since 1990, when about 300 queers descended on the park at the behest of a local computer hacktivist unfortunately named Doug Swallow, gays and lesbians have annually stormed the Magic Kingdom — with tacit encouragement from the management.
—James Hannaham, "Deep Disney: Gay Day In the Magic Kingdon," The Village Voice, June 27, 1995
Related Words:
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New words. 2013.