This time, we have the Internet. This has lead to wide spread, unregulated communications. It has lead to pressure on censorship, intellectual property and now the monetary system. It's a system which allows strong protest movements, which are very hard for monolithic states to control. Perhaps this time, the freedom craved by some in the 60s will have a better chance of materialising - it's certainly much harder to discredit such positions now.
Yes. And the greatest battle fought thusfar was the battle for cryptography. And we actually won that one. Use it or lose it, people...
But here, we fight the battle for money. And I note that without cryptography we wouldn't have a chance in hell.
My greatest fear is how physically complacent people have gotten. No - sitting at home and banging a keyboard is no substitute for getting out there and doing real shit. The internet - as good and perfect a tool as it is for many things - is no substitute for action in the real world.
We have some other tools too; speaking of the real world. Drones come to mind - especially in concert with 3-D printing. They are perfect for fighting our terrible and cowardly media infrastructure, and for exposing corporate misdeeds (especially environmental).
I have high hopes for this generation...