Hacktivista - Canada

This series uses film to portray the experiences of young people learning to use their aptitude for technology to defend political rights. In episode one, the 3 students (Graeme Bunton, Nart Villeneuve, and Michelle Levesque) attend a cyber-boot camp, where they hone their computer hacking skills, learn more about how they can be applied to promote human rights and democracy, and prepare for their mission to come in Central America. In episode two, the students are immersed in the often tense environment of Guatemala, where they work with frontline human rights activists whose networks are increasingly subject to electronic attack. Episode three follows the group as they move on to Chiapas, Mexico - home of the Zapatista movement - where the students realise that "hacktivism" has much broader implications than just for the Internet.

Hacktivista is airing on TV Ontario (Channel 2 on most cable networks in Ontario). The screening on March 4 2004 will show episode two; this episode was also screened at the 2003 World Summit on the Information Society in Geneva, Switzerland. The interactive Hacktivista website features biographies of each of the 3 students portrayed in the series, as well as pictures and reviews.

Rights, Technology, Democracy.

Mike Downie, the film's director and co-producer, founded House on Fire Productions, a film and video production company based in Toronto. Co-producer Associate Professor Ronald J. Deibert of the University of Toronto is director of the University's Citizen Lab, which "sponsors research at the intersection of digital media and world civic politics".