This Article Full Text (PDF) References Alert me when this article is cited Alert me if a correction is posted Services Email this article to a friend Similar articles in this journal Alert me to new issues of the journal Add to Saved Citations Download to citation manager Request Permissions Request Reprints Add to My Marked Citations Citing Articles Citing Articles via HighWire Citing Articles via Google Scholar Citing Articles via Scopus Google Scholar Articles by Leizerov, S. Search for Related Content Social Bookmarking                         What's this?

Privacy Advocacy Groups Versus Intel

A Case Study of How Social Movements Are Tactically Using the Internet to Fight Corporations

The Institute for Conflict Analysis and Resolution, George Mason University, sleizerov{at}yahoo.com

In the wake of 1999, three privacy advocacy groups waged a campaign against Intel’s controversial launch of the Pentium III® processor. Approached as a case study, the conflict between the privacy groups and Intel demonstrates how social movements manipulate the Internet to their advantage when fighting powerful organizations. This article follows the presentation of each of the five strategic dimensions in Charles Euchner’s revised model—time, place, force, mind, and culture—with the Internet tactics used by the privacy advocates in the realm of each dimension. After a description of all the new cyber-protest tactics used in this campaign, an evaluation of both the groups’ success and Intel’s handling of the crisis is provided. The events surrounding the Melissa virus are mentioned due to important similarities and differences between the two cases. Concluding the article is a discussion of how the new protesting capabilities in the hands of social movements change existing paradigms for them as well as for their adversaries.

Key Words: Internet • social protest • Intel • crisis management • interest groups • cyber-protest • big brother • campaign tactics • strategic dimensions • paradigm shift • privacy

Social Science Computer Review, Vol. 18, No. 4, 461-483 (2000)
DOI: 10.1177/089443930001800409


CiteULike    Complore    Connotea    Del.icio.us    Digg    Reddit    Technorati    Twitter    What's this?

This article has been cited by other articles:

				J. Earl Pursuing Social Change Online: The Use of Four Protest Tactics on the Internet Social Science Computer Review, August 1, 2006; 24(3): 362 - 377. [Abstract] [PDF]

				S. Sassen Local Actors in Global Politics Current Sociology, July 1, 2004; 52(4): 649 - 670. [Abstract] [PDF]

				M. Lynch Capital punishment as moral imperative: Pro-death-penalty discourse on the Internet Punishment Society, April 1, 2002; 4(2): 213 - 236. [Abstract] [PDF]