SUPA not SOPA
"Oh yeah. Take say “The Multilateral Agreement on Investment” the organizing in opposing it, was done mostly on the internet. Because it could not be done through the mainstream media; they wouldn’t permit it. So it was done through the internet. A lot of the planning and organizing for the recent demonstration, has also been by getting around the mainstream system, or information control system; by using the internet. The same is true in other countries, like take say Indonesia: the protest against the Suharto government could not be done in the Indonesian press. A lot of it was done through the internet, through an internet organizing system.
And in fact, whether this will continue or not is a real matter for struggle. We know certainly what corporations want: they don’t want the internet to be used for information and activism. And if the public is willing to struggle to maintain control of what it (the public) created and not hand it over as another weapon of domination, well it will stay a tool for organizing and activism. But it’s not gonna be that automatically."
And in fact, whether this will continue or not is a real matter for struggle. We know certainly what corporations want: they don’t want the internet to be used for information and activism. And if the public is willing to struggle to maintain control of what it (the public) created and not hand it over as another weapon of domination, well it will stay a tool for organizing and activism. But it’s not gonna be that automatically."
— Noam Chomsky on the Internet. From an interview with Allan Gregg in June 2000. Answering the question: “Do you see the internet as providing an alternative means to get public views discussed outside of the traditional media?”
