Netwar-like cyberwar-describes a new spectrum of conflict that is emerging in the wake of the information revolution. Netwar includes conflicts waged, on the one hand, by terrorists, criminals, gangs, and ethnic extremists; and by civil-society activists (such as cyber activists or WTO protestors) on the other. What distinguishes netwar is the networked organizational structure of its practitioners-with many groups actually being leaderless-and their quickness in coming together in swarming attacks. To confront this new type of conflict, it is crucial for governments, military, and law enforcement to begin networking themselves.

The information revolution is leading to the rise of network forms of organization in which small, previously isolated groups can communicate, link up, and conduct coordinated joint actions as never before. This in turn is leading to a new mode of conflict--netwar--in which the protagonists depend on using network forms of organization, doctrine, strategy, and technology. Many actors across the spectrum of conflict--from terrorists, guerrillas, and criminals who pose security threats, to social activists who may not--are developing netwar designs and capabilities. The Zapatista movement in Mexico is a seminal case of this. In January 1994, a guerrilla-like insurgency in Chiapas by the Zapatista National Liberation Army (EZLN), and the Mexican government's response to it, aroused a multitude of civil-society activists associated with human-rights, indigenous-rights, and other types of nongovernmental organizations (NGOs) to swarm--electronically as well as physically--from the United States, Canada, and elsewhere into Mexico City and Chiapas. There, they linked with Mexican NGOs to voice solidarity with the EZLN's demands and to press for nonviolent change. Thus, what began as a violent insurgency in an isolated region mutated into a nonviolent though no less disruptive social netwar that engaged the attention of activists from far and wide and had nationwide and foreign repercussions for Mexico. This study examines the rise of this social netwar, the information-age behaviors that characterize it (e.g., extensive use of the Internet), its effects on the Mexican military, its implications for Mexico's stability, and its implications for the future occurrence of social netwars elsewhere around the world.

London-based American journalist Grossman continues her coverage of the Internet by assessing the battles she believes will define its future. Among them are scams, class divisions, privacy, the Communications Decency Act, women online, pornography, hackers and the computer underground, criminals, and sociopaths. Annotation copyrighted by Book News, Inc., Portland, OR

The most dangerous enemy: One person with a grudge and a plan

Today the Internet is entering a new stage which will have a much stronger impact on the daily lives of all kinds of organizations. The next communication paradigm offers an improved access to mobility information, offering people and all organizations that deal with mobile devices the ability to access information whenever and wherever necessary. We really are at the edge of a new technological revolution, based on the ubiquity of information through the use of mobile devices and telecommunications. Furthermore, historical tendencies lead us to believe that the impact both on people and on organizations of this technological wave will be both faster and more powerful than any previous one. To the individual, information ubiquity results in the necessity to have immediate access to information. The strategic tactic and operational impact in organizations will therefore be incomparably deeper than in previous organizational management change using technology such as total quality management or business process re-engineering. This book acknowledges that it is crucial to find new organisational security approaches in the context of increasing dependency on the new technological wave which is building an information, communication and knowledge society.