Industrial information economy
Encyclopedia
Industrial information economy is a term coined by Harvard University Professor Yochai Benkler
. Benkler discusses this the term is in-depth in his 2006 book The Wealth of Networks: How Social Production Transforms Markets and Freedom.
Industrial information economy is the first form of information economy and has existed since the late-nineteeth century and into the twentieth-century . Recently, industrial information economy evolved into a new form known as networked information economy with the advent of the Internet .
It represents one in which consumers are passive, as opposed to the networked information economy in which consumers are active often to the point of equally being producers (either in terms of creativity or by allowing usage of their idle processing, storage or bandwidth). In addition, industrial information economy promoted the dominance of the mega-corporation, and created passive workers who had no control over what they produced or consumed.
Benkler contends that within the industrial information economy "most opportunities to make things that were valuable and important to many people were constrained by the physical capital requirements of making them" and thus in comparison to the networked information economy undemocratic. Based on information technology, according the Paliwala, the industrial information economy was centred on information and cultural production, and the manipulation of symbols whereas the networked information economy is based on communications.
Benkler points out that the incumbents of the industrial information economy are threatened by the networked information economy. In response to this threat he references examples of the incumbents fighting back; including the broadcast flag
and the Digital Millennium Copyright Act
. Other well known examples could have equally have been added such as telephone operator
blocking of Skype
, the HDCP standard as well as other forms of digital rights management
such as those found in Microsoft Vista .
Benkler warns that how the battle between the incumbents of the industrial information economy against the emerging networked information economy plays out, the life of individuals in the world's most advanced economies will be deeply affected. He states :
Yochai Benkler
Yochai Benkler is an Israeli-American professor of Law and author. Since 2007, he has been the Berkman Professor of Entrepreneurial Legal Studies at Harvard Law School. He is also a faculty co-director of the Berkman Center for Internet & Society at Harvard University.- Biography :In 1984, Benkler...
. Benkler discusses this the term is in-depth in his 2006 book The Wealth of Networks: How Social Production Transforms Markets and Freedom.
Industrial information economy is the first form of information economy and has existed since the late-nineteeth century and into the twentieth-century . Recently, industrial information economy evolved into a new form known as networked information economy with the advent of the Internet .
It represents one in which consumers are passive, as opposed to the networked information economy in which consumers are active often to the point of equally being producers (either in terms of creativity or by allowing usage of their idle processing, storage or bandwidth). In addition, industrial information economy promoted the dominance of the mega-corporation, and created passive workers who had no control over what they produced or consumed.
Benkler contends that within the industrial information economy "most opportunities to make things that were valuable and important to many people were constrained by the physical capital requirements of making them" and thus in comparison to the networked information economy undemocratic. Based on information technology, according the Paliwala, the industrial information economy was centred on information and cultural production, and the manipulation of symbols whereas the networked information economy is based on communications.
Benkler points out that the incumbents of the industrial information economy are threatened by the networked information economy. In response to this threat he references examples of the incumbents fighting back; including the broadcast flag
Broadcast flag
A broadcast flag is a set of status bits sent in the data stream of a digital television program that indicates whether or not the data stream can be recorded, or if there are any restrictions on recorded content...
and the Digital Millennium Copyright Act
Digital Millennium Copyright Act
The Digital Millennium Copyright Act is a United States copyright law that implements two 1996 treaties of the World Intellectual Property Organization . It criminalizes production and dissemination of technology, devices, or services intended to circumvent measures that control access to...
. Other well known examples could have equally have been added such as telephone operator
Telephone operator
A telephone operator is either* a person who provides assistance to a telephone caller, usually in the placing of operator assisted telephone calls such as calls from a pay phone, collect calls , calls which are billed to a credit card, station-to-station and person-to-person calls, and certain...
blocking of Skype
Skype
Skype is a software application that allows users to make voice and video calls and chat over the Internet. Calls to other users within the Skype service are free, while calls to both traditional landline telephones and mobile phones can be made for a fee using a debit-based user account system...
, the HDCP standard as well as other forms of digital rights management
Digital rights management
Digital rights management is a class of access control technologies that are used by hardware manufacturers, publishers, copyright holders and individuals with the intent to limit the use of digital content and devices after sale. DRM is any technology that inhibits uses of digital content that...
such as those found in Microsoft Vista .
Benkler warns that how the battle between the incumbents of the industrial information economy against the emerging networked information economy plays out, the life of individuals in the world's most advanced economies will be deeply affected. He states :
How these battles turn out over the next decade or so will likely have a significant effect on how we come to know what is going on in the world we occupy, and to what extent and in what forms we will be able—as autonomous individuals, as
citizens, and as participants in cultures and communities—to affect how we and others see the world as it is and as it might be.
Historical Origins of Industrial Information Economy
- The industrial information economy (aka information economy) traces back to the Industrial Revolution and to the resulting crisis of control. Advanced industrial nations began to recognize how usable information could be a means of controlling their respective economies. During the 1880s and 1890s, the notion of efficiently producing and using information was key to controlling physical processes and human behaviour (Benkler 2003, p. 1251).
See also
- Networked information economy
- Commons-based peer productionCommons-based peer productionCommons-based peer production is a term coined by Harvard Law School professor Yochai Benkler to describe a new model of socio-economic production in which the creative energy of large numbers of people is coordinated into large, meaningful projects mostly without traditional hierarchical...
- Network neutralityNetwork neutralityNetwork neutrality is a principle that advocates no restrictions by Internet service providers or governments on consumers' access to networks that participate in the Internet...