View | Superheroes or supervillains: Rise of vigilantism in increasingly digital world

Take the example of patient 17, a woman in Vietnam who was a COVID-19 vector after she traveled back to her city from Europe and hid the information, infecting hundreds in the capital city of Hanoi. The public got wind of this and quickly got together to expose her, including personal information such as name and address. In a matter of days, she became national news and was ostracised by the country.

While she did make a mistake and should have reported herself, the response to her actions was disproportionate and continues to affect her to this day after her actual identity was revealed. What’s more, many other people were also caught up in a web of misinformation as the suspected patient 17 and had to issue public clarification backed by statements from the authorities validating them after a public backlash.

We have seen multiple examples of people losing their careers and reputations after being mobbed online for some act or statement that was either unlawful or just did not go down well with the vigilantes’ personal moral compass. The problem is that just like mob violence, acts of digital vigilantism usually take a life of their own. The narrative of the crime committed by the victim of digital vigilantism can inflate with every retelling and the punishment meted out to them can be in complete disproportion to the wrong, perceived, or real that they have committed.

Digital vigilantism is also creating offshoots, for instance, the patriotic hackers —a term used to describe individuals who attack perceived enemies of the state. While they are being tightly regulated in countries such as the United States, elsewhere, they are receiving recognition and approval from their governments. For instance, in 2015, Indian hackers took down thousands of Pakistani websites including those with government extensions in an operation that came to be known as Operation Vijaya.

The operation received quiet nods of approval from highly placed government officials including the Indian NSA Ajit Doval. A couple of years later, a Pakistani hacker group going by Pakistan Haxor Crew (PFC) retaliated and defaced the websites of over 10 Indian universities. Unlike regular wars that are fought under the ambit of rules, and where there are measures to contain the damage, battles on the digital front are often indiscriminate.

Unfortunately, as the world becomes more and more digital, states are showing rapidly increasing interest in this new frontier of war. Because cyberattacks provide governments with plausible deniability, they are much more indiscriminate with using them compared to acts of conventional war.

A case in point is North Korea’s Lazarus Group, responsible for perpetrating attacks on South Korea, Sony Pictures, and banks across the globe, successfully stealing well over $100 million. According to the FBI and North Korean defectors, the group is made up of the country’s best and brightest individuals who undergo rigorous state-sponsored education and training before being deployed. Last year, a lone American hacker retaliated against the island nation, crippling websites across the nation through an attack on the central routers that provide internet access to the country.

The line between digital vigilantes and cybercriminals can be very thin.

The world is set to move deeper into the digital space. The proliferation of digital payments, education’s great shift to the web, the increasing amount of time we are now spending on social media and eCommerce websites; look around and you will discover that we already live with one foot firmly entrenched in the digital world. Over the next few years, the lines between the digital and physical worlds will blur further, and simultaneously an increasingly greater percentage of the population will also jump onto the web.

While this will have huge benefits in terms of connectivity, communication, and opportunities, it will also provide digital vigilantes with a lot more power. Internet regulatory authorities across the globe are starting to take cognisance of this but that is not enough. Digital vigilantes may in many cases work to uphold the laws and social norms of the land, but they do it outside the ambit of law and the potential for misinformation and disproportionate punishment is very high. In some cases, these vigilantes can spark off major controversies, for instance the 2020 Bangalore riots that were spawned by a social media post and led to riots across the city and 3 deaths.

Sitting just one rung above these vigilantes are actual cyber criminals, who although outside the scope of this article, are causing massive damage whether it is through heists, identity theft, or attacks on other states or organisations.

Individuals, enterprises, and governments are all at risk from these new-age caped crusaders who operate outside the ambit of law and depending upon their agenda, can be aligned with organisational or state players. While most countries currently lack a regulatory framework and infrastructure that can keep a tab on digital vigilantes without infringing on the fundamental right of free speech of the masses, digital vigilantes pose a very serious and rapidly growing challenge that needs to be confronted at once.