Computerized Activism, internet activism, or computer activism is non-violent direct action and civil disobedience and similar to trespass and blockade as in social movements. Unlike any civil disobedience tactic, or a 'sit-in' in which groups of people physically blockade, Electronic Civil Disobedience, or virtual blockades and virtual sit-ins mark computerized activism. In computerized activism the actor can participate in virtual blockades and sit-ins from home, university, or from any other place with net access. Computerized Avtivism or Internet activism is also known as web activism, online activism, digital campaigning, digital activism, electronic advocacy, and e-activism. Computer-mediated communication in extraparliamentarian or grassroots politics is highlighted by Downing in "Computers for Political Change."
Computerized activism is now used by grassroots groups in countries all over the world. Computerized Avtivism is the use of electronic communication technologies such as social media, e-mail, and podcasts for various forms of activism to enable faster and more effective communication by citizen movements, the delivery of particular information to large and specific audiences as well as coordination.
Internet communication is central to the international struggle and the working of international solidarity networks. Computerized activism and computer-mediated communication gained importance in the 1980s.
Ethical Hacktivism is used to penetrate and test systems for security-improvement purposes only, while hacktivism could mean computerized activism, that is, using computers to bring about social or political change. Downing points to PeaceNet's establishment of international links in 1987.
Distributed Denial of Service or DDoS attacks are also computerized activism used to make an online service unavailable by overwhelming it with traffic from multiple locations. The early adopters of computerized activism were people in the 1980s anti-nuclear and Central American solidarity movements. The international role of computerized activism was highlighted in both the struggles of pro-democracy Chinese students and in broader trans-national movements that lead to the dissolution of the Soviet Union.