The Internet has profoundly changed the public sphere even in those countries in which only a minority of the population has a computer and modem in their home. Experiences in Latin America show that the Internet can make important contributions to the democratization of the public sphere, but they also point to significant obstacles to the emancipatory effects of the new technologies and to new forms of social exclusion. The profound global inequalities between North and South and the social chasms within most Third World countries strongly influence the distribution and use of the new technologies. The liberalization of the telecommunications regime that has swept the continent since the end of the 1980s provides the decisive economic context in which the diffusion and use of Internet, e-mail, etc., are taking place, with market forces producing a strong bias towards the more affluent sectors of society. Nevertheless, even for the poor population the Net-based digital media have become vital not only as a source of information but also for sustaining transnational migration networks that have evolved into a prime source of revenue in many countries. In this respect, alternatives to the Northern model of private domestic access are of crucial importance. At the same time, “access” alone is insufficient for a developmentally and socially inclusive use of the new communication technologies, and must be accompanied by a broader process of “meaningful use” and, eventually, of “social appropriation” of the new technologies. A key element of the “politics of the Internet” stems from their decentralized and cross-border nature, which helps to circumvent “filters” established by the traditional mass media within the framework of the nation-state. This is illustrated by Mexico’s Zapatista guerillas who were able via the Internet to mobilize world opinion for their cause, and also by state-socialist Cuba, where the defense of “media sovereignty” involves a strict state monopoly over the media for which the Internet presents a formidable challenge. To avoid the pitfalls of the false alternative between state-centered versus market-centered models, a citizens’ rights-centered approach is needed to adequately address the great social and political challenge represented by the Internet. It must combine the demand to provide the essential conditions for participation in the new Net-based communication for all sectors of society, with the defense of truly pluralist articulation against the authoritarian ambitions of governments and of market actors.