Information warfare, American style

The development of the US National Information Infrastructure opens new avenues for information products and services. As these information products and services are developed and marketed, the producers of those products and services seek to protect their proprietary interest in the underlying information. A number of attempts, some successful, to extend legal protection to basic facts and other public domain information demonstrate that the public information space may be eroding. Recent information controversies can form the basis for establishing several predictors useful in determining when future information ownership controversies may develop and result in the loss of public information space. One set of predictors describes the information environment. A second set of predictors characterizes the marketplace environment. Identifying instances where negative elements of each set of predictors exist suggest a change in information rights or ownership most likely to result in the critical loss of access to public information space