Protestware

Quick meaning: Protestware is a noun meaning (computing, neologism) Software subverted to serve the ends of a political protest, for example by deleting files or displaying propaganda messages.

Meaning

(computing, neologism) Software subverted to serve the ends of a political protest, for example by deleting files or displaying propaganda messages.

Example Sentences

In January, two other popular modules called colors and faker were intentionally sabotaged by their maintainer. Is protestware going to become a common problem?

The roots of protestware date back to the early days of computing. However, recent events in the Russo-Ukrainian war has^([sic]) sparked a new wave of protestware.

Commenting on the malicious code added to the “Vue-cli” application, GitHub user “nm17” said a continued expansion of protestware would erode public trust in open-source software.

developers and project maintainers themselves sometimes engage in this activity as a form of protest or advocacy for their beliefs. This form of hijacking, often referred to as protestware is a concerning trend because it can be difficult for an organisation to recognise it before it’s too late.

Related Words

Related dictionary entries include hacktivism, protesting, hactivism, counterprotester, counterpropaganda, countersubversion.

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