For this reason, WTO officials who talked with protesters before the conference had no possibility of negotiating for peaceful protests. No one had authority to speak on behalf of and make commitments for all the opposition NGOs and other social activist groups. A network is like a three-dimensional collection of nodes with each node representing an NGO or some other special interest group. Each node communicates directly with every other node. No node has authority over any other node and no node is responsible to any other node.
New nodes can join the network at any time.
If one or even several nodes are removed the network continues to function. The timely, rapid and extremely dense flow of information among the nodes is the force which keeps the network alive. The information can be use immediately or stored for future confrontations. Businesses or trade associations which operate on a hierarchical structure find themselves at a distinct disadvantage in a netwar. They can't identify a central opposition person or organization which has the authority or power to diffuse a situation or negotiate a peace settlement.