LETTERS: OLD RULES HAMPER INFORMATION AGE

To the editor:

All of our laws are based on the idea that theft is not acceptable behavior. It is no accident that the Framers of the Constitution originally intended to protect the rights of life, liberty and the pursuit of property, later changed to the pursuit of happiness. At that time, the accumulation of property was the measure of the success of a man's efforts and a source of political and economic power. Similarly, the intentional deprivation of the right to property from certain groups (women, racial or religious groups etc.) was an attempt to withhold political and economic power.

Things have changed.

In the developing industrial societies of the 19th and 20th centuries, the ability to control material goods determined economic, political and personal survival. Now, in the 21st century, it is the ability to control information that determines survival.

Everyone has heard the phrase "information is power." Well, sorry. Information is not power. Rather, it is the timely access to and the relevant application of appropriate information that produces and sustains economic, political and personal power in the societies of this brave new century. But this raises an interesting question: Who decides what timely access, relevant application and appropriate information are? This question scares supervisors, managers, teachers, preachers and politicians to death. And it is the same question that plagued the landowners, factory owners, religious leaders and politicians of previous centuries: Who gets to control, and who gets controlled?

The current debates concerning Internet access, television programming and school curriculum belie this fundamental question of the control of information. Yet no one seems to have realized that the question itself belongs to past centuries and is misguided and irrelevant to our current condition.

Businesses and governments worldwide are clamoring for employees who possess critical thinking and problem-solving skills. Yet these same businesses and governments restrict or even deny Internet access and other advanced communication tools to these same employees. Parents wail and moan about the quality of their children's education yet do not take the time to provide and explain even the most basic facts about the world around them, especially when those facts differ from the parent's cherished opinions.

Agricultural workers cannot work if they are starving. Industrial workers cannot work if they are poverty-stricken. Thinking workers in this information age cannot work without access to information. And in an educational, business, economic and scientific environment where lateral thinking and thinking outside the box are our most precious commodities, access to that information must be at the discretion of the person doing the work.

No one is suggesting that employees of Fortune 500 companies should roam around the Internet during office hours at the expense of business goals and objectives. No one is suggesting unsupervised access to adult material by elementary school students at the expense of a meaningful education. But what should be considered is the possibility that all information may be potentially useful to a mind that is prepared to use it.

It will be interesting to see if we will be able to carry our concept of law and theft into the Information Age. We have already had to deal with the theft of information, as seen in the recent episodes of corporate hacking and the subsequent involvement by federal law enforcement agencies. But in an economic environment dependent upon the access to information as a commodity, what stand will we take against those who intentionally withhold that access? We require schools and businesses to provide the additional tools necessary to accomplish a task to an otherwise qualified student or employee with a physical disability. Should we also require schools and businesses to provide the tools necessary for a student or knowledge worker to accomplish his task even if it means surrendering control over the use of those tools? Gen. George S. Patton said, "Never tell people how to do things. Tell them what to do, and they will surprise you with their ingenuity." It remains to be seen if we have the courage to let individual ingenuity determine the use of the marvels of the Information Age or if we will continue to insist that 19th century rules apply to a 21st century game.

KARL MINDEMAN

Jackson