It is also cheap. And it is hard to censor. Messages on the Internet are dissected into packets of data that are sent on multiple pathways, making interception difficult. For all the fervor, the Internet is far from a revolutionary force. Only the elite have access to the Net in many countries.
Technical barriers impede a free-flowing exchange even among industrial nations.
And the Internet isn't just a tool for the champions of freedom. During the Soviet coup of 1991, when Soviet authorities didn't have the foresight to yank out the phone lines, the Internet never stopped filing messages to the world. But two years later, when communist and nationalist hard-liners attempted to overthrow President Boris Yeltsin, both sides turned to cyberspace to spread their message. The Internet was developed by the U.S. military as a doomsday communications system impervious to nuclear war, but in recent years it has become the people's computer network. As many as 40 million users are now linked to this global grid of computers, and new technology makes travel from a computer site in Sydney, Australia, to a site in Topeka, Kansas, as easy as a click of a button.