Friction in Arenas of Repair

Abstract

This paper studies how communication infrastructure is explored, examined, and evaluated by self-identifying 'security researchers' at hacking conventions. We analyze mobile phone 'security research' as a case of negotiating infrastructural repair. 'Security research' seeks to re-negotiate with industry actors what 'security' actually means, which technological 'insecurities' need mending, which bugs, mistakes, and risks should be repaired. These negotiations are tense and contested because the relations between 'security research' and industry reach across utterly different identities and commitments, spanning an arena of repair. To investigate how 'security research' situates itself in this arena, we analyze presentations about hacking mobile telephony that have been given at events organized by the Chaos Computer Club between 2000 and 2015. With the help of qualitative coding techniques, we examine the identities and commitments involved in 'security research,' the agendas that 'security research' pursues, and the ways in which it addresses and relates to industry actors. We interpret our findings in terms of friction, highlighting how a social arena of mobile phone repair is constituted through difference, rather than despite it.