Highways, including the information highway, can be turned into toll roads. Indeed, one can imagine a situation where information technology could produce automated pricing systems that could privatise many public spaces such as roads and parks. Alternatively, one can imagine deliberate government actions to preserve public spaces and to widen the access to information technology across social and organisational barriers. With help from public policy as well as the non-profit sector, the internet can strengthen local communities. The hackers' libertarian internet is already being altered by electronic commerce and large corporations.
New technologies challenge laws governing intellectual property.
Such issues were discussed at the World Economic Forum in Davos this week, but they are almost entirely absent from public debates in this US election year. That will have to change, and soon. Joseph S. Nye is dean of Harvard University's Kennedy School of Government.