IT and law
Currently, information technologies – particularly those that enable copying and re-use – are at the forefront of discussions about intellectual property and moral rights: the right to gain financially from the products one creates and the right to say how one’s intellectual products can be used, respectively. Most countries have laws that afford some sort of protection for intellectual property (called copyright law), but details vary from country to country. Not all countries have a concept of moral right, but this is spreading. The Internet is rapidly internationalizing access and allowing individuals to circumvent legal restrictions, borders and the customs authorities. Is the computer you use at work yours in any sense, or the company’s? What happens when you use the company computer for “private” work or pleasure? All we can say is: “Watch this space!”

The way we live now
Information technologies have radically transformed life in most developed countries, and amongst the middle classes in the less developed world. We no longer need to travel to a well-stocked library or depend on broadcast media to find information. We can communicate with many people by sound, sight and through text over much of the world in a matter of a few seconds. We can copy digital media very quickly, and disseminate copies to thousands. We can carry tiny communication devices and use them virtually everywhere an infrastructure exists. These technologies are now rapidly converging such that the day of the “information appliance” is probably not very far off.