Post-Capitalist: Peter Drucker, the Father of Modern Management, Discusses How Knowledge, Not Capital, is the New Basis of Wealth

What is a copyright any more? We have to rethink the whole concept of intellectual property, which was focused on the printed word. Perhaps within a few decades, the distinction between electronic transmissions and the printed word will have disappeared. The only solution may be a universal licensing system where you basically become a subscriber, and where it is taken for granted that everything that is published is reproduced. In other words, if you don’t want everybody to know, don’t talk about it. I think we are getting there very fast.

The Bit Police: Will the FCC Regulate Licenses to Radiate Bits?

I do not believe there will be a Bit Police. The FCC is too smart. Its mandate is to see advanced information and entertainment-service proliferate in the public interest. There is simply no way to limit the freedom of bit radiation any more than the Romans could stop Christianity, even though a few brave and early data broadcasters will be eaten by the Washington lions in the process.

Hype List: Cryptography

Cryptophiles are a ’90s version of the NRA [National Rifle Association] gun nuts: paranoid of the government’s attempts to legislate, and convinced that their guns (codes) are necessary for freedom. “If encryption is outlawed, only outlaws will have encryption,” is already splattered around the Net.

The Other Revolution in Health Care: Leave Hillary and Bill Out of It … The Health Care System is Going to Change Drastically Over the Next Decade

There’s no reason why digitized medical records cannot be kept safe. With proper computer security, your records, with your name attached, would be available only to the people who have access to them now – your doctor, for instance – plus emergency medical technicians who have the proper access code.

The Other Revolution in Health Care: Leave Hillary and Bill Out of It … The Health Care System is Going to Change Drastically Over the Next Decade

While a hospital storage room full of paper files may raise some very serious worries, the threat to privacy is at least limited to those who are physically there and can get into the room. With remote access from around the country and around the world, electronic data interchange might make possible multiple invasions at the same time by people scattered across the globe.