Scientific American: Feature Article: Tragedy of the Cyber Commons: April 2002

Usually any reference to the "tragedy of the commons" makes my eyes roll, because it's usually used by environmentalists to claim that they should control the commons and keep the rest of us off. This however is a discussion of the effect owning the means of delivering content will have on the creative use of the internet.

I think that he makes some excellent points about the difference between Congress' encouragement of cable TV and its hosility to anything similar for music. He compares Napster to cable tv. Food for thought.