The Internet eventually reaches 10 percent of the population. As always, officials at every level take bites of everyone's fortune through taxes, corruption, excessive regulations and local protectionism. Then the economy dives. A crisis shakes people's confidence in the regime and prompts a bank run. Panic spreads quickly, and government measures fail to contain the damage.
Concerned citizens visit foreign Web sites and exchange e-mails with the each other.
Officials cannot obscure the truth of events as they once could, and citizens learn about the depth of the crisis, its mismanagement, and the hardship pervading the country. They are emboldened when they learn, as they could not before, that many others share their long-standing resentment of the government, now exacerbated because financial tolls hit harder. With organizing on the Internet, encouragement from others and a sensed opportunity, shared frustration and anger turn to protest. Peasants and workers, who have already staged regular protests, coordinate their efforts and join elites. News about a crackdown travels quickly, triggering protests that eventually grow so large the party cannot contain them.