What Are Protest Bots?

   

           Today, it is common to see bots being utilized all over the internet. These bots have the capability to index websites, edit Wikipedia entries, spam users, scrape data from webpages, launch denial of service attacks, and other assorted activities. To further understand bots, Wikipedia also describe bots as an automated system that is designed to perform a specific task online, called scripts, which are orders given to the bot through coding. In addition to the many capabilities achievable by using these programs, bots can also be characterized into different categories based upon their function. Some of these categories include protest bots and bots of conviction. In this blog, the idea of can a bot conduct a political protest will be further reviewed and the question of whether or not they should be allowed to conduct a political protest will be raised. It is not surprising that today bots have the ability to conduct such a protest. But for many, the area of concern is more focused on whether or not this type of behavior should be allowed.