The challenges for regulation and control in an environment of rapid technological innovations

Abstract

The last two decades have brought about a ‘digital shift’ into an information era, with the power to own, control, regulate, and access information/data in a short span of time. In the same way that control over the means of production shaped the industrial era, this power to control information will determine the new evolutionary dynamics of today and the future. The emergence and rapid proliferation of network technologies have revolutionized how we capture and share creative works, altering in perceptible ways the value of information and its significance in our lived experiences. Therefore, more than ever before, regulations, controls, and policies that ascribe rights and protect privileges in relation to these valuable resources, play a key role in both allocating power and controlling its flow. In this era, these controls will need to continue, albeit in an innovative manner, to play the usual role of controlling rights and behavior in relation to the resource of information.