Knowledge differentials, not economic class, lie at the heart of hierarchy. We think rich people know more than poor people. Twenty billion dollars make Bill Gates a genius. Without them he'd be another college drop out. Anything that changes knowledge relationships undermines hierarchy. We defer to authorities when we believe they know more than we do.
Electric technology makes knowledge available to anyone who wants it. The interaction of millions of individual minds empowers all because we communicate what we learn. We no longer need take our physician's opinion at face value. We come on line to learn experiences of others with the same symptoms. Knowledge gives us the confidence to evaluate our situation for ourselves.
The Internet promotes equality. With identities concealed, only ideas matter. Age, gender, race, and ethnicity no longer divide. They disappear.
This new connectedness attacks existing social arrangements based on individuality and privacy. Those in power are coming to see the power of the Internet and the threat it poses to their positions. They use the threat of pornography corrupting the young as a reason to restrict the free flow of information. The limits they propose protect their positions in society.
The Internet can take us from where we are to where we might prefer to be. The question is how?