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Is "online community" an oxymoron of a new reality

Laura J. Gurak's book, Persuasion and Privacy in Cyberspace, is a rhetorical analysis of two cases of online social action centering on the impact of computer technology on the right to privacy. That is, Gurak looks at the nature of the online interactions that took place in each case: she examines both the structure of the conversations and documents created throughout the duration of the two social actions, and their effectiveness-or lack thereofwithin the communities of those participating in the online interactions. The first case involved the creation by the Lotus Development Corporation of an extensive marketing database, MarketPlace: Households, which provided "the names, addresses, and spending habits of 120 million American consumers" to anyone who purchased the product (1). When the impending marketing of the database was announced, there was an immediate online reaction against the product that included the requests of over 30,000 Americans for Lotus to remove their personal information from the database. The result of the protest was that Lotus decided not to release the product, a decision "hailed by some as a 'victory for consumer populism'" (1). Supporters of computer technology saw the reaction against Lotus as proof that computer technology, especially the opportunity to communicate online, would provide greater opportunity for more individuals to involve themselves in democratic action that was often hindered in the real world by race, class, and gender barriers. They believed that such barriers would be erased online and felt that the "grassroots" nature of the Lotus protest supported their belief. In the second case, the Clinton administration proposed implementing "a federal standard for encryption" that involved use of a computer chip-the Clipper chip-containing a decoding key for deciphering electronic communication (1). The intent behind the proposal was "to ensure that new technologies did not outpace the ability of federal law enforcement agencies to perform legal surveillance" (32). But as in the Lotus case, this too alarmed many who became aware of the government's plans. The concern was that the chip would allow law enforcement agencies increased capability of "surveillance of electronic material, such as tapping phones or intercepting and decoding computer transmissions"(32), without anyone to monitor the government against unauthorized (unconstitutional) uses of the chip (33). In other words, there was a sense of Big Brother reading and listening in on citizens' computer and telephone conversations, which again generated a reaction of protest. But in this case, the protest was more formal and organized, and it was unsuccessful in that the government proceeded with its plans to implement the Clipper chip despite the concerns raised by protesters. Gurak uses these two cases as a format for considering real ways in which computer technology impacts upon users of the technology as well as on society at large, the nature of "community" online, the impact of online communication on relationships of power, and the kinds of rhetorical strategies that make online communication effective or ineffective. In her work she complicates the notion of community by detailing how it is enacted in cyberspace in these two cases. Yet she also wants to complicate the arguments supported by some adherents of computer technology that online communication enables more wide-ranging popular "democratic" action by