As the Internet develops so do the uses to which it is put. Accordingly, the amount of online communication that may be described as political in some way has increased vastly over the past few years.

Several of the papers in this issue feature of M/C Reviews testify to the political influence that may result from Net activities. The massive demonstrations against the World Trade Organisation held in Seattle last November were partly organised online. As I write, information about the impending protests against the IMF and World Bank in Washington is buzzing around the world. Are we, as some argue, experiencing a new form of global or 'transversal' coalition-based political opposition in which electronic communication plays a key role?

If you mention politics and the Net to some people they immediately think of libertarianism as the political ideal which is somehow wired into the medium. Information 'wants to be free' and many Netizens demand and celebrate the freedom of communication associated with their domain. Overall, however, the papers collected here show that the Net can be put to various uses in political terms. This variety is as controversial as the ultimate political potential of the medium. Some point to the recent decisive influences of Websites upon election campaigns (including the US presidentials and the Victorian state election in Australia) and some stress the way the qualities of the Net as a medium can be exploited by activism. Yet others warn of the possibility of the co-optation of Net 'free speech' and point out the necessarily élite natures of online political participation.

As a communication medium the Internet is unique. It is changing politics. The nature and scope of its involvement is, however, up for debate. The eleven articles here contribute to that debate both theoretically and through examples highly relevant to their contemporary moment.