LISNews: Librarian News

CIO.com has a nice review of the book Building Wealth By Lester C. Thurow; a book that seeks to define the rules in a Knowledge-Based Economy.

\"Everyone understands what it means to own land or productive equipment and how those rights can be enforced. It is not so clear, however, what it means to own knowledge or how those ownership rights can be enforced\"Capitalists own the equipment their workforce uses, but can they own the knowledge their workforce uses? What part of their knowledge can employees take with them when they move to a new employer? How do employers stop employees from taking the employer\'s intellectual property when they go? Ownership rights to land and equipment last forever. Does the ownership of knowledge last forever? If not, how long does it last? Everyone knows the difference between public lands and private lands, but where is the dividing line between knowledge in the public domain and knowledge in the private domain? Even if the line can be defined, how is it to be enforced?