"Where freedom is rarely mentioned in mainstream media anymore, it is ferociously defended -- and exercised daily -- on the Net. ...Where our existing political institutions are viewed as remote and unresponsive, this online culture offers the means for individuals to have a genuine say in the decisions that affect their lives. Where conventional politics is suffused with ideology, the digital world is obsessed with facts."

Katz went on to discuss "Netizens" in detail: "[S]ome of their common values are clear: they tend to be libertarian, materialistic, tolerant, rational, technologically adept, disconnected from conventional political organizations [and] narrow labels like liberal or conservative. They are not politically correct, rejecting dogma in favor of sorting through issues individually, preferring discussions to platforms."

Influential Internet Users Solidly Libertarian
A poll in the December 1997 WIRED magazine, commissioned by Merrill Lynch, divided Americans into four categories, based on how often they use email and the extent to which they have access to a laptop, a cell phone, a beeper, and a home computer. Nine percent of Americans were defined as "connected" or "superconnected," the latter meaning they use three of the four above technologies regularly.

These "connected" and "superconnected" are highly influential opinion leaders who vote more often than the general population. And, according to the survey, they strongly believe in free markets, are socially tolerant, and are "more often than not" libertarians.

(As reported in the Liberator Online)