The Internet has evolved into a single global matrix where activists gain real-time international attention for their struggles. More than forty years ago, the Net started out as a military-scientific project, consisting of no more than four university nodes. When officially opened for commercial use in the mid-1990s, however, the Net had grown to be a large international network. Many activists initially rejected this commercialization; today such dismissal of the profit-driven services online would simply disadvantage political activists. The history of the Internet is full of cultural experiments, with declarations of independence from corporatist forces and stories about empowerment. Such empowerment devolved not only to activists and libertarians but also to dictators and others of their ilk.