Protest vote

Citation

(2001), "Protest vote", Work Study, Vol. 50 No. 7. https://doi.org/10.1108/ws.2001.07950gab.005

Protest vote

Protest vote

Earlier this year, the Terrorism Act 2000 came into force. Under this Act, any hacker with political or ideological motives can be classed as a terrorist. There is, however, a problem in differentiating between an act of vandalism and an act of valid political protest and the "simple" act of attempting to prevent the use of a system. If someone hacks into a company system and defaces their Web site because they disagree with their work involving animal experiments, a prosecution can be brought under the act, because there is an ideological reason for carrying out the defacement.

Oddly though, if the same person, for the same motive, were to simply take a can of paint and deface a company lorry, they would almost certainly only be charged with criminal damage. The difference is the use of electronic media. How the Act actually is used "in anger" remains to be seen: it will take a number of test cases to establish the real effects. In the meantime, businesses need to consider whether they will report any defacement of a Web site – they could be drawn into a situation where court action is needed to clarify the law: this could be seen as damaging the company image. For more information visit www.hmso.gov.uk/acts/acts2000/20000011.htm