Continuing the practices of non-violent, yet disruptive protest originally pioneered by Henry David Thoreau, electronic civil disobedience attempts to use computers and the internet not only for political and social activism but for actual protests as well. Although often compared to hacktivism, electronic civil disobedience differs from that form of electronic social protest in that in almost all cases, it involves large numbers of people and makes use of only legal methods of protest.
See also: Civil Disobedience, Hacktivism, The Electronic Disturbance Theater, Digital Zapatismo, Flood Net, SWARM, Infowar, Anonymous Digital Coalition, Virtual sit-in