If people want to hear the message, they will come to it, and a community will form. Dyson points out that as communities grow on the Net, the discover the need to create methods of governance for themselves. In one Net community, anonymity will be acceptable. In another it will not. Former members may even go into competition with their old communities.
Citizenship is voluntary.
A net-based government can operate only by consent of the governed. Any net government must therefore provide its citizens with real benefits if it wants them to stick around. Dyson s book contains fascinating chapters on content control, privacy, and security, all of which reflect her basically libertarian, free-market philosophy. On the issue of content control, Dyson explains how totalitarian governments fear the Net because it encourages open, unfettered communication. In her view, the Net may be the greatest of all weapons for spread of democratic ideals.