Excerpted from a longer analysis by Jeremy John:

“There are other, more explicit definitions of nonviolent direct action, among them, Wikipedia’s definition, which is: “Nonviolence (ahimsa) is a philosophy and strategy for social change that rejects the use of violence. Thus, nonviolence is an alternative to passive acceptance of oppression or of armed struggle against it.” And direct action “is activity undertaken by individuals, groups, or governments to achieve political, economic, or social goals outside of normal social/political channels.”

Operation Avenge Assange is an attack against infrastructure, not people. Nobody is hurt in a DDOS. Therefore, it is physically nonviolent.

Operation Payback has a particular set of demands, particularly, radical free speech on the Internet. Their target, the financial organizations that froze WikiLeaks’ assets, had compromised financial neutrality and worked to block the political activities of a client. As Charles Arthur, the Guardian’s technology editor pointed out, you can still donate to the KKK through PayPal. So why was WikiLeaks targeted? Because they chose the United States government as a political target.

When Facebook or Twitter take sides in a political struggle, as they both may have done by shutting down Operation Payback’s accounts, it shows the precarious position of freedom of speech on the Internet. What other struggles will the Internet establishment take a position on?

I hope that this lightning storm of radical Internet democracy does not, like so many protests, result in an authoritarian backlash. The Internet must remain a radical free-speech zone, and, whether or not you agree with their methods, Anonymous has made clear that those who do not respect free speech will be muzzled themselves.”