Their way of distributing their viewpoint was, is, always will be a commercial endeavor. Stuart Brand's The Well, probably the first virtual community, may have been originated by hackers stealing bandwidth from The Man, but they continue to exist only because somebody pays for their services. That probably makes me a pawn of the corporate masters. And perhaps I'm deluding myself. But my bottom line is that I am making a living by creating my own work, unashamedly.
History is written by the winners, as they say.
But to brand the Internet as the One Truth is somewhat idealistic, I m afraid. The other is this. Look up the figures of how many households worldwide have computers, and how many of those are connected. Don't give up the fight. Just know what you're fighting.