ABSTRACT
INTRODUCTION New developments in information and communications technology (ICT) do represent a hype. But hypes may produce interesting and farreaching impacts. It is, however, necessary to stress that these impacts do not eventually lead us into Utopia, as is often stressed in American literature. History knows no progress, nor does technology. What is more, the key characteristic of ICT and its impact is ambiguity. It brings us equality and inequality; violence and peace; small and big scale; Big Brother and Soft Sister.
