RAND_MR1382

decisionmakers, the “cyber” equivalent of lobbying, with a few well-timed online
appeals. The number of people involved in a campaign doesn’t matter as much—it can
be quite small—as it does in other activities, such as demonstrations and protests.
This seems to be a revolutionary state of affairs. Perhaps for the first time, the Internet
allowed members of the international community to comment on and affect domestic,
local legislation, a privilege once reserved for lobbyists or, at the very least, registered
U.S. voters. This might be called “cyberdiplomacy.”
The Internet puts information in the hands of organizers fast. In the Massachusetts and
PepsiCo cases, proponents of measures against SLORC used the Internet to gather and
transmit up-to-date information about conditions within Burma and the policies toward
that country of various governments around the world. This helped make their
arguments particularly effective and ensured there was no “disconnect” between them
and the prodemocracy movement inside Burma. Knowledge, as they say, is power.
The Internet allows rapid replication of a successful effort. Organizers of a successful
Internet campaign can immediately share their winning (or failed) strategies with
cohorts anywhere on the globe.
A success in one locale does not automatically translate into success in another, because
of local conditions and factors. But in the selective purchasing campaign, activists in
New England emailed the text of proposed legislation, press releases, and other material
to colleagues who wanted to wage a similar effort elsewhere. 72 They could then tailor
the materials to their own local conditions. This, of course, is similar to the use fax
machines have been put to for years. But with the Internet, many more sources can be
reached at once. And with the web, for example, the materials can be posted
permanently for downloading, anytime, anywhere.
The Internet also helped other related campaigns coordinate and “compare notes.”
These included activists trying to foster change in Nigeria or Tibet, or those who are
primarily interested in environmental issues, such as the destruction of teakwood forests
in Southeast Asia.
The Internet allows users to select their level of activity. Using the same type of computer
and communications equipment, different activists can choose how active they want to
be in a given campaign. They may elect to simply keep up on the news, by subscribing
to BurmaNet, reading soc.culture.burma, and browsing the various Burma web pages. At
a higher level, they may post articles and comments on the various newsgroups, add
their names to electronic petitions, fill out surveys, and download campaign materials
for use. At the highest level, they may use the Internet to organize and carry out a
specific campaign for political change. 73
The Internet helps publicize the cause and the campaign. Obviously, this is especially true