Passivity and resistance

Historically, critiques of late capitalism have focused on consumerism, particularly the passivity of the consumer. The big media that developed in the twentieth century allowed for large groups of people to watch the same television, liste to the same music on the radio, and by the same products. The Situations (from the previous blog post) ad the critics at the Frankfurt school based their critiques o this.. The masses could not influence the spectacle (or culture industry) therein lied its power of domination. With the iteret, however, things are different.
We are no longer expected to passive. The corporate ideal is now the active consumer ("prosumer" as Tapscott would say). We are now expected to contribute our opinions, our thoughts and our effort. In part this is a result of frustration with the older model of consumerism, but it also helps the corporate world. The crowd creates its own content, and the entertainment industry sells it back to them.
Social networking sites like myspace and facebook allow access to people's likes and dislikes in a more specific way then would have been imaginable in the past. Social relationships can be mapped out and sorted. Entertainment companies now are contacting potential consumers by searching through people's taste in music, movies, etc. The creation of virtual communities for people with shared interests allows for these communities to be mapped, followed, ad targeted by marketers. As much as participatory media can be a tool for change, it can also be used for surveillance. The question is whether, in this new evironment, passivity (NOT letting your voice be heard) can become a meas of resistance.