Editing Civil disobedience (section)

===Action===
Civil disobedients have chosen a variety of different illegal acts. Hugo A. Bedau writes,
{{Blockquote|There is a whole class of acts, undertaken in the name of civil disobedience, which, even if they were widely practiced, would in themselves constitute hardly more than a nuisance (e.g. trespassing at a nuclear-missile installation)&nbsp;... Such acts are often just a harassment and, at least to the bystander, somewhat inane&nbsp;... The remoteness of the connection between the disobedient act and the objectionable law lays such acts open to the charge of ineffectiveness and absurdity.}}
Bedau also notes, though, that the very harmlessness of such entirely symbolic illegal protests toward [[public policy]] goals may serve a propaganda purpose.<ref name="Bedau"/> Some civil disobedients, such as the proprietors of illegal [[medical cannabis dispensaries]] and Voice in the Wilderness, which brought medicine to Iraq without the permission of the US government, directly achieve a desired social goal (such as the provision of medication to the sick) while openly breaking the law. [[Julia Butterfly Hill]] lived in [[Luna (tree)|Luna]], a {{convert|180|ft|m|adj=on}}-tall, 600-year-old [[California Redwood]] tree for 738 days, preventing its felling.

In cases where the criminalized behaviour is [[pure speech]], civil disobedience can consist simply of engaging in the forbidden speech. An example is [[WBAI]]'s broadcasting of the bit "[[Filthy Words]]" from a [[George Carlin]] comedy album, which eventually led to the 1978 Supreme Court case of ''[[FCC v. Pacifica Foundation]]''. [[Threatening government officials]] is a way to express defiance toward the government and unwillingness to stand for its policies. For example, a supporter of some [[Tax denier|tax deniers]] in [[New Hampshire]], [[Edward and Elaine Brown]], was arrested for allegedly telling the local city councillors to "Wise up or die."<ref>{{citation |title=Brown case e-mails investigated |date=21 June 2007 |url=http://www.unionleader.com/article.aspx?headline=Brown+case+e-mails+investigated&articleId=083dd586-0d54-4650-a9ca-07f99d4d3914 |access-date=19 July 2010 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20071019220544/http://www.unionleader.com/article.aspx?headline=Brown+case+e-mails+investigated&articleId=083dd586-0d54-4650-a9ca-07f99d4d3914 |archive-date=19 October 2007 |url-status=dead |publisher=Union-Leader}}</ref>

More generally, protesters of particular [[victimless crime]]s often see fit to openly commit that crime. [[Indecent exposure|Laws against public nudity]], for instance, have been [[nudity and protest|protested by going naked in public]], and laws against cannabis consumption have been protested by openly possessing it and using it at cannabis rallies.<ref>{{citation|url=http://archive.lewrockwell.com/orig8/clark-d5.html |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20220320185626/https://archive.lewrockwell.com/orig8/clark-d5.html/ |url-status=dead |archive-date=20 March 2022 |title=Civil Disobedience and the Libertarian Division of Labor |author=Clark, Dick |date=22 April 2008 |publisher=LewRockwell.com }}</ref>

Some forms of civil disobedience, such as [[illegal boycott]]s, [[refusals to pay taxes]], [[draft dodging]], [[denial-of-service attack|distributed denial-of-service attack]]s, and [[sit-in]]s, make it more difficult for a system to function. In this way, they might be considered coercive; coercive disobedience has the effect of exposing the enforcement of laws and policies, and it has even operated as an aesthetic strategy in contemporary art practice.<ref>{{Cite journal|last=Steinberg|first=Monica|date=2021-07-03|title=Coercive Disobedience: Art and Simulated Transgression|url=https://doi.org/10.1080/00043249.2021.1920288|journal=Art Journal|volume=80|issue=3|pages=78–99|doi=10.1080/00043249.2021.1920288|s2cid=237576098|issn=0004-3249}}</ref> Brownlee notes that "although civil disobedients are constrained in their use of coercion by their conscientious aim to engage in moral dialogue, nevertheless they may find it necessary to employ limited coercion to get their issue onto the table".<ref name=Brownlee>{{citation|title=The communicative aspects of civil disobedience and lawful punishment|author=Kimberley Brownlee|date=9 November 2006|journal=Criminal Law and Philosophy|volume=1|doi=10.1007/s11572-006-9015-9|issue=2|page=179|s2cid=145019882|author-link=Kimberley Brownlee}}</ref> The [[Plowshares]] organization temporarily closed [[GCSB Waihopai]] by padlocking the gates and using sickles to deflate one of the large domes covering two satellite dishes.

[[Electronic civil disobedience]] can include [[web site defacement]]s, [[URL redirection|redirect]]s, [[denial-of-service attack]]s, [[information theft]] and [[Internet leak|data leaks]], illegal web site [[parody|parodies]], [[virtual sit-in]]s, and [[virtual sabotage]]. It is distinct from other kinds of [[hacktivism]] in that the perpetrator openly reveals his identity. Virtual actions rarely succeed in completely shutting down their targets, but they often generate media attention.<ref>{{citation|doi=10.1177/0002716204270338|title=The New Digital Media and Activist Networking within Anti-Corporate Globalization Movements|author=Jeffrey S. Juris|volume=597|pages=189–208|journal=Annals of the American Academy of Political and Social Science|issue=Cultural Production in a Digital Age|jstor=25046069|year=2005|s2cid=145327747}}</ref>

[[Dilemma action]]s are designed to create a "response dilemma" for public authorities "by forcing them to either concede some public space to protesters or make themselves look absurd or heavy-handed by acting against the protest."<ref name=Moth>Laura Moth, [[Today's Zaman]], 19 June 2013, [https://archive.today/20130620053234/http://www.todayszaman.com/blogNewsDetail_getNewsById.action?newsId=318666 A standing dilemma in Taksim ]</ref>