May 17, 2012 10:10AM 

# Does Internet Activism Work? 

By [Jason Kuznicki](https://www.cato.org/people/jason-kuznicki) 

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In the struggle between liberty and power, technologies are rarely neutral. So where does the Internet fall?

On the hopeful side, there’s the [defeat of SOPA](https://www.cato.org/sopa-an-architecture-for-censorship/), the [Arab Spring](https://www.cato.org/libertarians-and-the-arab-spring/), and the ongoing struggle for [liberalization in China](http://www.theepochtimes.com/n2/china-news/chinese-economist-mao-yushi-wins-catos-milton-friedman-award-215729.html), to name just three.

But we’ve also seen serious [threats to privacy and civil liberties at home](https://www.cato.org/publications/commentary/we-cant-hide-national-security-agency), Internet surveillance used [to hunt down dissidents abroad](http://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-2119389/Chinese-sell-Iran-100m-surveillance-capable-spying-dissidents-phone-calls-internet.html), and China’s surprisingly effective [Internet filtering](http://topics.nytimes.com/topics/news/international/countriesandterritories/china/internet_censorship/index.html).

[This month at *Cato Unbound*](http://www.cato-unbound.org/), [Berin Szoka of the think tank Tech Freedom takes a broadly optimistic approach](http://www.cato-unbound.org/2012/05/07/berin-szoka/toward-a-greater-understanding-of-internet-activism/). Jason Benlevi, the author of the book *Too Much Magic*, suggests that [social media may be effective when they give corporations consumer feedback, but they don’t do as well against governments](http://www.cato-unbound.org/2012/05/09/jason-benlevi/who-is-social-media-really-working-for/). Rebecca MacKinnon, the author of *Consent of the Networked*, urges us to [focus on the details of specific countries and cultures](http://www.cato-unbound.org/2012/05/11/rebecca-mackinnon/internet-activism-lets-look-at-the-specifics/); for her, facts on the ground can make or break Internet activism. And public choice scholar and law professor John O. McGinnis zooms out to the larger picture: [The Internet is changing how we conduct public policy debates](http://www.cato-unbound.org/2012/05/16/john-o-mcginnis/better-policy-through-better-information/), he argues. As fact-checking and crowdsourcing get easier, our political culture will tend to grow more empirical and less ideological.

To follow the ongoing discussion, [subscribe to *Cato Unbound* (RSS)](http://feeds.feedburner.com/cato-unbound) or [follow us on Twitter](https://twitter.com/#!/CatoUnbound).

##### Related Tags 

[Technology and Privacy](https://www.cato.org/technology-privacy) 

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