| 21. |
- Röhle, Theo, 1976
(författare)
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DDoS: From Activist Event to Perpetual Crisis
- 2021
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Ingår i: communication +1. - 2380-6109. ; 8:1
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Tidskriftsartikel (refereegranskat)abstract
- This paper focuses on recent changes in the way Distributed Denial of Service (DDoS) attacks are technically administered in order to reassess their role as an activist tactic. By contextualising current forms of attacks within the history of hacktivism, it is possible to discern a shift from DDoS as short-lived event to an enduring phenomenon. The paper discusses the implications of this temporal shift, in terms of a growing reliance on DDoS protection providers and increasingly opaque traffic flows that are managed by these new intermediaries. This discussion then extends towards infrastructure studies in order to question established notions about the relationship between breakdown and visibility. The paper concludes by calling for a stronger engagement with different temporal aspects of recurring communication crises in general and DDoS attacks in particular.
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| 22. |
- Röhle, Theo, 1976-
(författare)
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Der Google-Komplex : Über Macht im Zeitalter des Internets
- 2010
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Bok (övrigt vetenskapligt/konstnärligt)abstract
- Meistgenutzte Suchmaschine, weltgrößter Datensammler, teuerstes Medienunternehmen – es liegt nahe, »Google« als Supermacht zu bezeichnen. Und doch greift diese Beschreibung zu kurz. Unter Bezug auf Michel Foucault sowie die Akteur-Netzwerk-Theorie entwickelt Theo Röhle ein präzises, relationales Verständnis von Macht, das den Blick auf die vielfältigen Interaktionen der beteiligten Akteure öffnet und ein komplexes System von Verhandlungen zutage fördert. Eine zeitgemäße Analyse digitaler Medienmacht an der Schnittstelle von Medienwissenschaft, Informationswissenschaft und Surveillance Studies.
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| 23. |
- Röhle, Theo, 1976-
(författare)
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Desperately seeking the consumer : Personalized search engines and the commercial exploitation of user data
- 2007
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Ingår i: First Monday. - : University of Illinois Libraries. - 1396-0466. ; 12:9
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Tidskriftsartikel (refereegranskat)abstract
- With reference to surveillance studies theory, this paper critically assesses the role of personalized search engines as a mediator between advertisers and users. It first sketches the economic and technical background of online marketing and personalized searches. Then, it engages in an in-depth discussion of two examples of personalized search engines with regard to the data collection process used and the way in which this data is used for advertising purposes. The discussion shows that users' information needs, as well as their personal data, are subject to a growing pressure in terms of commercial exploitation. Essentially, search engines now fulfill the task of translating information needs into consumption needs.
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| 24. |
- Röhle, Theo, 1976-
(författare)
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Die Software sozialer Medien
- 2017. - 1
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Ingår i: Handbuch Soziale Medien. - Wiesbaden : Springer. - 9783658037642 - 9783658037659 ; , s. 321-342
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Bokkapitel (refereegranskat)abstract
- Der Beitrag fokussiert aus der Perspektive der Software Studies auf die technischen Voraussetzungen sozialer Medien. Ausgangspunkt ist, dass die Ausgestaltung von Software politische Züge trägt. Diskutiert wird jeweils an konkreten Beispielen, wie in Datenstrukturen Sozialität repräsentiert wird, welche Rolle APIs und Algorithmen für die Zirkulation von Informationen spielen und wie Bots an kollaborativen Prozessen beteiligt sind. Abschließend wird erörtert, inwiefern sich anhand der Gegensatzpaare zentral/dezentral und offen/geschlossen kritische Perspektiven auf diese Fragen entwickeln lassen.
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| 25. |
- Röhle, Theo, 1976-
(författare)
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Disrupting Distribution : Online publishing after Mirai
- 2019
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Konferensbidrag (övrigt vetenskapligt/konstnärligt)abstract
- During recent years, Distributed Denial of Service (DDoS) attacks have developed from singular disturbances to a persistent problem within online publishing. They have grown in strength to an extent that even large web hosting companies are struggling to protect their clients from them. At the same time, the level of technical knowledge and financial resources required to administer these attacks is continually decreasing. Often based on variants of the Mirai virus that recruits vulnerable Internet of Things devices into botnets, the so-called booter and stresser community offers powerful attack capabilities as a web service, complete with user-friendly interfaces and flexible payment options.A range of larger media organisations have already been exposed to DDoS attacks, e.g. the BBC in 2015 and Newsweek in 2016. In Sweden, several Swedish publishing companies were put offline during a weekend in 2016. In countries where investigative journalists and independent media organisations work under harsher conditions, DDoS attacks are seen as one among many threats faced both online and offline on a daily basis. Thus, media organisations’ websites are in increasing danger of being blocked by minor actors. In order to stay accessible in spite of attacks, websites have to be protected by sophisticated technical solutions based on algorithmic filtering of server requests. However, when faced with severe attacks, these kinds of solutions often become prohibitively expensive for individuals and small organisations, leaving freelance journalists and smaller media organisations particularly exposed – a situation that IT journalist Brian Krebs (2016) has described as the ”democratization of censorship”.This paper presents preliminary results from an interview study investigating media organisations’ responses to DDoS attacks. The study involves both journalists and IT professionals working in media organisations and focuses on their strategies for handling attacks as well as their conceptualisations of threats. This involves the question who the threats’ targets are presumed to be – an organisation, the profession, society? Another key question concerns attribution, since DDoS attacks by their nature rarely can be traced back to a single source. How is responsibility allocated and what motivations are ascribed to the assumed perpetrators? Based on these findings, the presentation attempts to disentangle the antagonistic relationships between the involved actors – DDoS providers, DDoS mitigation services and media organisations – and to discern how their respective discursive constructions of threats are interwoven with the different economies they embody.
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| 26. |
- Röhle, Theo, 1976-
(författare)
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Dissecting the Gatekeepers : Relational Perspectives on the Power of Search Engines
- 2009
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Ingår i: Deep Search. - Innsbruck, Wien, Bozen : Studienverlag. - 9783706547956 ; , s. 117-132
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Bokkapitel (övrigt vetenskapligt/konstnärligt)abstract
- The paper engages in an in-depth discussion of the search engine Google, focusing on its relationship to webmasters and users. Attempts by webmasters to game the ranking system in order to boost the position of their websites are met by Google with a subtle combination of rewards and punishment. It is argued that this strategy involves the establishment of a disciplinary regime that enforces a certain norm for web publishing. Google’s relationship to the users, on the other hand, is characterized by less invasive forms of power. By inserting itself deeply into the users’ information environment, Google can collect and analyze unprecedented amounts of user data. It is argued that the modeling of segmented consumption behavior that these schemes are based upon involves a governmental form of power. It is a kind of power that aims at controlling differential behavior patterns by gaining an intimate statistical knowledge of a population and using this knowledge as a means of predictive risk management.
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| 27. |
- Röhle, Theo, 1976-
(författare)
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Gamification
- 2014
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Ingår i: Pop. Kultur und Kritik. - Bielefeld : Transcript Verlag. - 2194-6981. ; :5, s. 61-64
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Tidskriftsartikel (övrigt vetenskapligt/konstnärligt)
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| 28. |
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| 29. |
- Röhle, Theo, 1976-
(författare)
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Machtkonzepte in der Suchmaschinenforschung
- 2007
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Ingår i: Die Macht der Suchmaschinen. The Power of Search Engines. - Köln : Herbert von Halem Verlag. - 9783938258330 ; , s. 127-142
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Bokkapitel (övrigt vetenskapligt/konstnärligt)
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| 30. |
- Röhle, Theo, 1976-
(författare)
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Mapping Home : Modalities of the cartographic negotiation of place
- 2019
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Konferensbidrag (refereegranskat)abstract
- The presentation focuses on the role of digital cartography in negotiating the meaning of home. It is widely recognised that maps play an important role for the representation of place. It has also been argued that the advent of digital media has redistributed power relations involved in cartography, e.g. by making digital mapping tools easily accessible. As many examples have shown, the maps created with these tools can potentially challenge prevailing representations of place.I take Jeremy Crampton's concept of "new spatial media" as my point of departure, but expand on its distinctive feature that "the public is gaining (some) access to the means of production of maps". The main question will be what "means of production" and "(some) access" actually means under digital conditions. By engaging with a seminal historical example – the "Guide psychogéographique de Paris“, created by Situationists Guy Debord und Asger Jorn in the 1950s, as well as the corresponding methodological concept of the "derivé" – I develop an analytical distinction between two modalities of mapping. Accumulative modes of mapping, it is argued with reference to Bruno Latour, reproduce categories established by "centres of calculation". In aggregative modes of mapping, on the other hand, the malleability and expandability of data collection takes centre stage, allowing for established categories to be challenged. Drawing on this terminology, several current examples of popular digital mapping services will be discussed in terms of their potential for negotiating the meaning of home.
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