this essay kind of gets to the point:
"...The war for humanity's future is primarily a war for control of the use and exchange of information.
Its three major fronts, in no particular order: The status of "intellectual property," freedom to communicate, and transparency, or lack thereof, of institutions of governance.
Its combatants: On one side the state and its hangers-on. On the other side, the rest of us...."
http://www.counterpunch.org/knapp07282011.html