The Content Revolution, or, It's Not Really Just About the Porn

Wrote this on Realmoney.com today:

For five years, I've been writing about the content revolution and how the the whole world is undergoing unfathomable changes because we are reaching new levels of information flow. Here's a real world example from Knowledge at Wharton of how the digitization of all the world's content and data is impacting society and the economy:

"Regardless of what happens with RIM and NTP, patent disputes won't be going away any time soon, says Thomas Y. Lee, Wharton operations and information management professor. The biggest reason: "Our system is based on 'first to invent' instead of 'first to file,' and in information technology that can be problematic." Another reason for more disputes: It's easy to scan patents and find potential conflicts, Lee adds. "If you went back in history, the patent system hasn't changed. What has changed is the fact that you can now do electronic searches. The data was always out there, but now you can sift through it. That changes the dynamics."

Dynamics, economics, politics...you can put just about any latin morphograph in front of "ics" and know that the digital age has changed it forever. For the better, because more information, more data, from more sources, from more places is always better than less. Ask the people in China is they prefer to have more access to the Internet or less. Ask someone from the Middle Ages what it was like before the printing press.
The revolution is upon us. And there's going to be lots of disruption and lots of profits and lots of losses as it plays out over the next couple decades.


Then I came across this somewhat humorous video ...and I just want to reiterate: The Content Revolution is MUCH bigger than just accessing pornography on the Net. Though, let's keep it real, right? Yes, access to porn is certainly a PART of it.