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“Nobody wants another SOPA moment,” Rep. Jason Chaffetz (R-Utah), a vocal critic of SOPA, told POLITICO. “The nerds are more powerful than anyone thought, and the tech industry flexed its muscle like never before.”

I think congress still has a lot to learn about the internet. Rep. Chaffetz certainly has it all wrong. The internet has given everyone an amazing platform for organization, collaboration, and expression. That fact alone should be feared by those in power. It’s not the nerds waking up and finding they have influence, it’s everybody. It’s the printing press all over again. Were the Tahrir square protestors nerds because they coordinated via Twitter?

He also has it wrong when he mentions the tech industry. Google, wikipedia, et al. may have stepped up to augment the protest, but it was the grass roots that pushed them to. They were late to the game.