Information Commons

For the complete document, please see the attached PDF version below.

Selected reviews of Silent Theft are featured below:

Monday, June 10, 2002 It’s almost human nature: if you’re allowed the use of something for enough time, you begin to think you have a right to it, even that you own it. Take broadcast television. Its signals travel by means of the electromagnetic spectrum, specifically that segment known colloquially as the airwaves. The spectrum is a fact of the physical universe. Capital didn’t create it. It can’t… more

The hardcore fans of Aibo, a popular robotic pet, are a creative, if geeky, bunch. Since 1999, when the lifelike toys first appeared beneath Christmas trees, hundreds of Aibo enthusiasts have programmed their charges to perform tricks unimagined in the boardrooms of Sony, the robot's creator. By expertly tweaking Aibo's code, hobbyists have enabled the robobeast to boogie to Madonna's "Vogue," double as a breadbox-sized surveillance camera, or growl "Bite my shiny metal robot ass!" All these behaviors are infinitely… more

If Stevenson was correct in his reinterpretation of Goethe—“That which you inherit from your fathers/You must earn in order to possess”—then the efflorescence of digital technologies over the past twenty years is posing some unprecedented challenges to our democratic polity. The computer, the Internet and any other digital technologies are dramatically changing the character oforganizations, markets, the nation-state and the global economy. What is less clear is how the traditional rights and liberties of American citizens shall be re-interpreted inthe… more

Before Sept. 11, one of the hottest issues in international relations was the UN Convention on Climate Change and its Kyoto Protocol. Negotiated for more than 8 years, most of the world's countries finally signed the treaty this past Summer while the US watched from the sidelines. Europeans accused the US of endangering the planet, while the US accused Europeans of being unrealistic and signing an "unimplementable" treaty. In fact, discussions on climate change had become so heated that people were talking about a growing "US-European rift." The… more

by M. Stuart Lynn, President & CEO, Internet Corporation for Assigned Names and Numbers (ICANN)

Introduction

Just imagine. Just imagine if you addressed email to your Aunt Maria and it was delivered to my Uncle Herbert. Just imagine if on Tuesday at noon, your customers were able to reach your website at www.capitol.com and just one hour later when they… more

In "Who Owns the Sky? Our Common Assets and the Future of Capitalism," entrepreneur Peter Barnes redefines the debate about climate change. By treating the sky as a commonly owned asset, he argues, we can protect the atmosphere while paying cash to every American. Barnes proposes a non-governmental Sky Trust that would charge rent for carbon emissions and pay equal yearly dividends to each one of us. The Sky Trust would also ease the burden on workers,… more

Most Americans do not realize that they collectively own many of our nation's most valuable resources -- public assets worth hundreds of billions of dollars. Yet too many common assets are not managed in the public's best interest. It could be called the enclosure of the American commons -- the private appropriation of public forests, minerals, electromagnetic spectrum, government research and information, civic spaces and dozens of other assets owned by the American people. These practices encourage overuse, deprive taxpayers… more

Before getting underway, I want to thank a number of my friends and colleagues at the New America Foundation: Michael Calabrese, Director of the Public Assets Project, who helped bring off this conference and consulted with me on my report; Ted Halstead, president of the NAF, and Steve Clemons, vice president of New America, both strong supporters of this project. I am also grateful to the Surdna Foundation of New York City for its support of my report, and to… more

Americans as a people own a great wealth of assets -- forests and minerals on public lands, the airwaves and atmosphere, federally funded research, information resources, public spaces, civic institutions, cultural traditions, and more. At a time when the market is seen as the primary prism for judging value, we too often fail to see that some of our most important assets are… more