http://www.nytimes.com/2011/03/27/opinion/27montefiore.html?_r=1&pagewanted=1
"Leaderless revolutions without organization have a magically spontaneous momentum that is harder to crush."
I learned about this aspect of ICA from Kevin Kelly's book Out of Control. When you have a collective action, it is leaderless. This puts you closer to chaos than a structured organization would be. But systems that live closer to chaos are more adaptive (p. 402). And they are less predictable, which makes it harder for anyone working against the system to try to counter it.
Project Chanology started off as just people doing the usual adolescent attacks on Scientology; pizza orders, black faxing, Ddosing, etc. For some unknown reason, the swarm decided to listen to Mark Bunker (Wise Beard Man) when he suggested that they nonviolently protest in front of the church properties. Bing. Sudden agreement. And gradually as the protests have gone on they have taken on a general form. Out of the chaos that is Anonymous came Project Chanology, somehow.
Internet Collective Action is people organizing in a nonhierarchical manner to accomplish a particular goal. The reward is in the doing, and how much or how little anyone participates is completely voluntary, depending on their abilities and commitment to the goal. By this process amazing things can be accomplished. ICA will grow so long as the Internet is free. http://www.lisamcpherson.org/pc.htm is an example of ICA.
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