(dij.uh.LAN.tee)
n.
A person who uses digital tools and techniques to avenge a crime. [Digital + vigilante.]
—digilantism n.
Example Citations:I certainly wouldn't diminish those with real talent and ability by calling myself a hacker; I was a cyberdouche at best. I say this only to illustrate that I know where the self-professed digilantes of our day—the kids who spam your chat rooms, flood your Minecraft worlds, and cripple your web servers for sport—are coming from.
—Kevin Pereira, " Why Griefing Is Good: http://www.wired.com/magazine/2011/04/pl_column_griefing/," Wired, April 26, 2011
Sci-fi/fantasy celebrities like Wil Wheaton and Neil Gaiman joined the chorus against Cooks Source, turning the small viral outbreak into a full-blown meme epidemic. Within 48 hours of the story's release, digilantes had compiled a document listing over 150 alleged cases of misappropriation, plagiarism and copyright infringement against Cooks Source magazine.
—Ron S. Doyle, " Are Cooks Source Magazine and Judith Griggs innocent?: http://ur.nevernobody.com/2010/11/are-cooks-source-magazine-and-judith-griggs-innocent/\#," You are never nobody!, November 8, 2010
Earliest Citation:Other computer wizards have become cult figures after rushing to defend their idea of Internet purity, for example, when several hacker "digilantes" sabotaged Cyber Promotions, Inc., one of the most hated e-mail advertisers, or "spammers."
—David Brin, The Transparent Society: http://books.google.com/books?id=oNiK0ROYmbIC&pg=PA164&dq=digilantes, Addison-Wesley, May 17, 1998
Notes:I should also note a Los Angeles-based artists collective called The Digilantes (or sometimes LA Digilantes) that was formed in 1984 with a mission to "embarrass art galleries and academia about digital art — to show them their own aesthetic palette was limited" ( Wired: http://www.wired.com/culture/lifestyle/news/1997/08/5781).
Related Words:419 scam
cybervigilantism
distributed denial of service
ethical hacker
hacktivist
scam baiting
vigilante consumer
white hat hacker
Categories:Hacking and Hackers
Internet
People
Crime