Quinn Norton
(born May 1973) is an American journalist and
essayist
An essay is, generally, a piece of writing that gives the author's own argument, but the definition is vague, overlapping with those of a letter, a paper, an article, a pamphlet, and a short story. Essays have been sub-classified as formal a ...
. Her work covers
hacker culture
The hacker culture is a subculture of individuals who enjoy—often in collective effort—the intellectual challenge of creatively overcoming the limitations of software systems or electronic hardware (mostly digital electronics), to a ...
,
Anonymous,
Occupy movement
The Occupy movement was an international populist socio-political movement that expressed opposition to social and economic inequality and to the perceived lack of "real democracy" around the world. It aimed primarily to advance social and econo ...
,
intellectual property
Intellectual property (IP) is a category of property that includes intangible creations of the human intellect. There are many types of intellectual property, and some countries recognize more than others. The best-known types are patents, cop ...
and
copyright
A copyright is a type of intellectual property that gives its owner the exclusive right to copy, distribute, adapt, display, and perform a creative work, usually for a limited time. The creative work may be in a literary, artistic, education ...
issues, and the
Internet
The Internet (or internet) is the global system of interconnected computer networks that uses the Internet protocol suite (TCP/IP) to communicate between networks and devices. It is a '' network of networks'' that consists of private, pub ...
.
Early life and education
Quinn Norton was born in May 1973. She grew up in a poor family.
Her father's struggles with his experience post-
Vietnam
Vietnam or Viet Nam ( vi, Việt Nam, ), officially the Socialist Republic of Vietnam,., group="n" is a country in Southeast Asia, at the eastern edge of mainland Southeast Asia, with an area of and population of 96 million, making i ...
and his drug-related incarceration
inspired her to write later about judicial reform and restorative justice.
Norton completed a
GED
The General Educational Development (GED) tests are a group of four subject tests which, when passed, provide certification that the test taker has United States or Canadian high school-level academic skills. It is an alternative to the US high ...
and attended
Orange Coast Community College. She sporadically sat in on classes at
University of California, Los Angeles
The University of California, Los Angeles (UCLA) is a public land-grant research university in Los Angeles, California. UCLA's academic roots were established in 1881 as a teachers college then known as the southern branch of the California St ...
and
University of California, Santa Barbara
The University of California, Santa Barbara (UC Santa Barbara or UCSB) is a Public university, public Land-grant university, land-grant research university in Santa Barbara County, California, Santa Barbara, California with 23,196 undergraduate ...
but was never formally enrolled.
Career
Norton began her professional life as a technologist when she worked as a
SysAdmin
A system administrator, or sysadmin, or admin is a person who is responsible for the upkeep, configuration, and reliable operation of computer systems, especially multi-user computers, such as servers. The system administrator seeks to ensu ...
and web programmer.
In 2006, she shifted to journalism. Her focus was initially on technology but eventually grew to encompass internet activism.
In 2006, Norton described a conceptual prank called Quinn's Prank / Quinn's Symphonic Conundrum involving writing and executing a
computer program
A computer program is a sequence or set of instructions in a programming language for a computer to execute. Computer programs are one component of software, which also includes documentation and other intangible components.
A computer program ...
that would output all possible
melodies
A melody (from Greek μελῳδία, ''melōidía'', "singing, chanting"), also tune, voice or line, is a linear succession of musical tones that the listener perceives as a single entity. In its most literal sense, a melody is a combinati ...
, theoretically providing the opportunity to claim
copyright
A copyright is a type of intellectual property that gives its owner the exclusive right to copy, distribute, adapt, display, and perform a creative work, usually for a limited time. The creative work may be in a literary, artistic, education ...
for all music.
Norton's work has appeared in ''
Wired
''Wired'' (stylized as ''WIRED'') is a monthly American magazine, published in print and online editions, that focuses on how emerging technologies affect culture, the economy, and politics. Owned by Condé Nast, it is headquartered in San ...
'', where she spent a year embedded with
Occupy Wall Street
Occupy Wall Street (OWS) was a protest movement against economic inequality and the influence of money in politics that began in Zuccotti Park, located in New York City's Wall Street financial district, in September 2011. It gave rise to t ...
.
She contributed regularly to the ''Wired'' blog, ''Threat Level,'' which focused on digital security. From 2013 to 2014, she wrote a column, ''Notes on a Strange World'', at
Medium
Medium may refer to:
Science and technology
Aviation
*Medium bomber, a class of war plane
*Tecma Medium, a French hang glider design
Communication
* Media (communication), tools used to store and deliver information or data
* Medium of ...
.
She wrote articles for ''
Maximum PC
''Maximum PC'', formerly known as ''boot'', is an American magazine and website published by Future US. It focuses on cutting-edge PC hardware, with an emphasis on product reviews, step-by-step tutorials, and in-depth technical briefs. Component ...
'' magazine for five years and has published in ''
The Guardian
''The Guardian'' is a British daily newspaper. It was founded in 1821 as ''The Manchester Guardian'', and changed its name in 1959. Along with its sister papers ''The Observer'' and ''The Guardian Weekly'', ''The Guardian'' is part of the Gu ...
,'' ''
ProPublica
ProPublica (), legally Pro Publica, Inc., is a nonprofit organization based in New York City. In 2010, it became the first online news source to win a Pulitzer Prize, for a piece written by one of its journalists''The Guardian'', April 13, 2010P ...
,'' ''
Gizmodo
''Gizmodo'' ( ) is a design, technology, science and science fiction website. It was originally launched as part of the Gawker Media network run by Nick Denton, and runs on the Kinja platform. ''Gizmodo'' also includes the subsite ''io9'', whic ...
,'' and
O'Reilly Media
O'Reilly Media (formerly O'Reilly & Associates) is an American learning company established by Tim O'Reilly that publishes books, produces tech conferences, and provides an online learning platform. Its distinctive brand features a woodcut of an ...
publications such as ''
Make
Make or MAKE may refer to:
* Make (magazine), a tech DIY periodical
*Make (software), a software build tool
*Make, Botswana, in the Kalahari Desert
*Make Architects
Make Architects is an international architecture practice headquartered in Londo ...
'' magazine. She was a long-time participant at O'Reilly's
Foo Camp.
Norton has spoken extensively on various aspects of technology, history and culture. From 2006 to 2008, she gave talks at technology conferences about
body augmentation, usually under the title "Body Hacking."
In connection with this work, Norton taught a course at
NYU
New York University (NYU) is a private research university in New York City. Chartered in 1831 by the New York State Legislature, NYU was founded by a group of New Yorkers led by then-Secretary of the Treasury Albert Gallatin.
In 1832, the ...
titled "Laboratory of the Self."
As part of her research, Norton had a
magnet implanted in the tip of her ring finger, enabling her to sense
magnetic field
A magnetic field is a vector field that describes the magnetic influence on moving electric charges, electric currents, and magnetic materials. A moving charge in a magnetic field experiences a force perpendicular to its own velocity and to ...
s.
The magnet was later removed.
In 2018, ''
The New York Times
''The New York Times'' (''the Times'', ''NYT'', or the Gray Lady) is a daily newspaper based in New York City with a worldwide readership reported in 2020 to comprise a declining 840,000 paid print subscribers, and a growing 6 million paid ...
'' announced Norton as its new lead opinion writer covering technology.
The hire drew sharp criticism focused on tweets Norton wrote between 2013 and 2017, particularly use of slurs referring to gay people and her defense of her friendship with
Andrew Auernheimer, a hacker and
white supremacist
White supremacy or white supremacism is the belief that white people are superior to those of other Race (human classification), races and thus should dominate them. The belief favors the maintenance and defense of any Power (social and polit ...
known as weev.
Later that day, she and the ''Times'' announced she would not join the paper after all;
the ''Times'' said it had been unaware of her comments.
Calling the episode an example of "context collapse",
and describing herself as a member of the
LGBT community
The LGBT community (also known as the LGBTQ+ community, GLBT community, gay community, or queer community) is a loosely defined grouping of lesbian, gay men, gay, bisexuality, bisexual, transgender, and other queer individuals united by a comm ...
,
Norton said her use of slurs had been specific to the context of engaging with the language of hackers.
She also said her friendship with Auernheimer (with whom she was no longer in contact)
had been an effort to discourage his racism.
The incident led to debate over the ethics of free speech in the hacking community at large as well as ''Times''
social media policy A social media policy is a policy which advises representatives of an organization on their use of social media
Social media are interactive media technologies that facilitate the creation and sharing of information, ideas, interests, and other f ...
.
Advocacy
Norton is an advocate of encryption when communicating electronically.
In 2009, she opposed the
Cyber Intelligence Sharing and Protection Act (CISPA).
Norton describes herself as an
anarchist
Anarchism is a political philosophy and movement that is skeptical of all justifications for authority and seeks to abolish the institutions it claims maintain unnecessary coercion and hierarchy, typically including, though not neces ...
and a queer activist.
Aaron Swartz
On March 3, 2011, Norton was subpoenaed to testify before a grand jury regarding an investigation of her then-partner
Aaron Swartz
Aaron Hillel Swartz (November 8, 1986 – January 11, 2013) was an American computer programmer, entrepreneur, writer, political organizer, and Internet hacktivist. A prolific programmer, Swartz helped develop the web feed format RSS, the tech ...
that led to the case ''
United States v. Swartz
In ''United States of America v. Aaron Swartz'', Aaron Swartz, an American computer programmer, writer, political organizer and Internet activist, was prosecuted for multiple violations of the Computer Fraud and Abuse Act of 1986 (CFAA), after do ...
.''
She ultimately accepted a
proffer
A proffer is an offer made prior to any formal negotiations.
In a trial, to proffer (sometimes profer) is to offer evidence in support of an argument (for example, as used in U.S. law), or elements of an affirmative defense or offense. A part ...
agreement with the prosecutor, whereby she shared information about the Guerrilla Open Access Manifesto,
which defendant
Aaron Swartz
Aaron Hillel Swartz (November 8, 1986 – January 11, 2013) was an American computer programmer, entrepreneur, writer, political organizer, and Internet hacktivist. A prolific programmer, Swartz helped develop the web feed format RSS, the tech ...
either wrote or co-wrote. The document offered the prosecution additional evidence in their case against Swartz.
Articles in ''
The Atlantic
''The Atlantic'' is an American magazine and multi-platform publisher. It features articles in the fields of politics, foreign affairs, business and the economy, culture and the arts, technology, and science.
It was founded in 1857 in Boston, ...
'' and in ''
New York Magazine
''New York'' is an American biweekly magazine concerned with life, culture, politics, and style generally, and with a particular emphasis on New York City. Founded by Milton Glaser and Clay Felker in 1968 as a competitor to ''The New Yorker' ...
'' indicate that in 2011 Norton was pressured by prosecutors to offer information or testimony that could be used against
Aaron Swartz
Aaron Hillel Swartz (November 8, 1986 – January 11, 2013) was an American computer programmer, entrepreneur, writer, political organizer, and Internet hacktivist. A prolific programmer, Swartz helped develop the web feed format RSS, the tech ...
in his trial for fraud for downloading thousands of academic articles from behind a paywall, but that she denied having information that supported prosecutors' claims of criminal intentions on Swartz's part. Prosecutors nevertheless attempted to use a public blog post on Swartz's blog that Norton mentioned, which may or may not have been co-authored by Swartz, as proof of a criminal intent.
Robert Scoble
In October 2017, Norton wrote a piece about
Robert Scoble
Robert Scoble (born January 18, 1965) is an American blogger, technical evangelist, and author. Scoble is best known for his blog, ''Scobleizer'', which came to prominence during his tenure as a technology evangelist at Microsoft. He later worked ...
that described an alleged sexual assault by Scoble on Norton as well as another woman.
Scoble denied what turned out to be multiple claims of assault, and said they were the result of his struggle with alcoholism.
His response was met with a critical reaction.
Personal life
Norton was married to journalist
Danny O'Brien.
They have a daughter. The marriage ended in divorce.
Norton dated computer programmer and activist
Aaron Swartz
Aaron Hillel Swartz (November 8, 1986 – January 11, 2013) was an American computer programmer, entrepreneur, writer, political organizer, and Internet hacktivist. A prolific programmer, Swartz helped develop the web feed format RSS, the tech ...
for roughly three years, from 2007 until early 2011.
In 2016, Norton moved to
Luxembourg
Luxembourg ( ; lb, Lëtzebuerg ; french: link=no, Luxembourg; german: link=no, Luxemburg), officially the Grand Duchy of Luxembourg, ; french: link=no, Grand-Duché de Luxembourg ; german: link=no, Großherzogtum Luxemburg is a small lan ...
to live with the man she eventually married in 2017.
Selected works
*
References
External links
*
Quinn Nortonat ''
WIRED
''Wired'' (stylized as ''WIRED'') is a monthly American magazine, published in print and online editions, that focuses on how emerging technologies affect culture, the economy, and politics. Owned by Condé Nast, it is headquartered in San ...
''
Quinn Nortonat ''
Medium
Medium may refer to:
Science and technology
Aviation
*Medium bomber, a class of war plane
*Tecma Medium, a French hang glider design
Communication
* Media (communication), tools used to store and deliver information or data
* Medium of ...
''
*
{{DEFAULTSORT:Norton, Quinn
Living people
1973 births
American women journalists
American bloggers
American photographers
Copyright activists
American technology writers
Place of birth missing (living people)
Wired (magazine) people
The Guardian journalists
People from Los Angeles
American women photographers
American women bloggers
Journalists from California
21st-century American non-fiction writers