Assessing success in internet campaigning: The case of digital rights advocacy in the European Union

摘要

Internet-based campaigning is regularly questioned or disqualified as 'clicktivism' on the premises that the internet facilitates low input action. This article focuses on the distributed campaign of an ad hoc coalition of digital rights activists intervening in the European Union's Telecoms package Reform from 2007 to 2009. It examines how technically skilled actors take advantage of networked collaboration and information production, as they discover, learn about and challenge European policy-making. Activists question the status quo and advance alternatives and models built on innovative distribution systems of knowledge goods, such as free software and open access initiatives. The analysis is based on empirical evidence collected through in-depth interviews with activists and political representatives, document analysis and observations. The campaign's effectiveness is then assessed through policy-makers perception in the analysis of three interrelated questions: (a) Did the campaign generate awareness among representatives? (b) Were protest actors perceived as credible and legitimate interlocutors? (c) Did the campaign trigger concrete political or legal changes? The evaluation of the campaign's effectiveness allows for nuanced conclusions as to the concrete impact of internet-based campaigning targeting EU institutions. The analysis shows that resource-poor actors can use the internet to substantially affect policy-making by intervening in the course of parliamentary law-making. This article provides an analytical framework to study these processes, and carry out a detailed confrontation between oppositional strategies and actual legislative and political outputs. The campaign was praised as very successful by all interviewees, especially in gaining awareness for the issues at stake. However, achieving concrete policy changes remains challenging notably due to the EU's particular conception of civil society input.