Information warfare American style: the battle for page numbers, real time event data and other factual information. Recent legal developments

The development of the 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 service seek to protect their proprietary interest in the underlying information. Attempts to extend legal protection to basic facts and other public domain information demonstrate that the public information space is 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 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.