Information technology has always been seen as a potentially revolutionary weapon. Almost as soon as the printing press was invented, governments and churches tried to control it, and the Ottoman Empire shunned the technology for almost 300 years. The American Revolution was spurred on by Benjamin Franklin, a printer; Thomas Paine, a pamphleteer, and Samuel Adams, a propagandist. In the modern era, vulnerable governments have been challenged by proliferating means of communication.Long distance telephone service,for example, helped to undermine the Soviet Union, connecting dissidents to each other and to supporters outside the country. Other Communist regimes have been weakened by radio and television signals: West German programs beamed into East Germany, and broadcasts from Hong Kong fed the appetite for reform in mainland China