One of the basic tenets of the 1996 Telecom Act was unbundled access to the telecom facilities of the local phone companies, which meant competing phone companies could access the so-called “last-mile” that led to people’s homes over the incumbent carrier’s network. The change in law created an insane amount of competition -- and that's precisely what's now happening in the media industry, with the most lucrative parts being siphoned off by internet-based low-cost rivals.

Koch Industries Inc. and its employees and subsidiaries spent $1.2 million in the last election helping to elect Republican governors who are now trying to take away bargaining rights of state workers. Now the Koch-backed advocacy group Americans for Prosperity, which helped organize a rally on Feb. 19 to support Wisconsin governor Scott Walker, yesterday announced a $342,200 ad campaign backing his efforts.

More evidence is piling up that online comment threads and forums are being hijacked by people who aren't what they seem. The anonymity of the web gives companies and governments golden opportunities to run astroturf operations: fake grassroots campaigns that create the impression that large numbers of people are demanding or opposing particular policies. It now seems that these operations are more widespread, more sophisticated and more automated than most of us had guessed.