Outgunned and frequently outnumbered, the thousands of protesters who showed up in Los Angeles during the Democratic convention last August were corralled and cowed by police who tracked them by helicopter, lined every march route, roared around town in 50-biker motorcades, shunted traffic at will, and didn't hesitate to fire rubber bullets and other projectiles when the crowds dallied in obeying orders. The protest was made into a sideshow and its message almost completely ignored. The latest eruption is at WBAI in New York. The Chronicle of Real Virtuali ty Carribean countries sell passports to outside investors. American mayors try to tax Internet commerce, while hackers throw sand in its gears.
Balinese weavers batik Tibetan designs on fabric for sale to tourists in Mexico.
Castells suggests that the distinguishing characteristic of a network is that it connects everything that is useful to it, and switches out everything that is not. Its boundaries are thus constantly being redrawn as the net's interest shifts. This shifting edge is the Network Frontier. One day they want your batik. The next they're investing in telcom or sheep ranches.