LAWS OF DISRUPTION

Larry Downes introduced me to the wonderful world of the worldwide web. As a talent volunteer at the ACLU, he would tweak software to my needs and show me how to stuff information into a machine and, more importantly, get it back out again in any configuration I wanted. He gave new meaning to the term “computer dating”.

Larry, author of the business bestseller, Unleashing the Killer App, has a new book coming out next month, The Laws of Disruption: Harnessing the New Forces that Govern Life and Business in the Digital Age, in which he explains how, 10 years after the start of the internet revolution, the increased speed of new technologies is at odds with the plodding pace of the law. Whether it’s privacy or fair use or digital copying of out-of-print books, “[T]he inability of rules optimized for an analog world to keep the peace in the digital age has paralyzed much of the legal system”. Larry offers nine principles for a new legal foundation, built on the unique economic properties of information, to form the Laws of Disruption. A “Fast-Forward” section at the end of each chapter offers guidance for policymakers, business leaders, and consumers. This is truly a work in the public interest.

Parenthetically, with tongue in cheek, Larry has suggested Microsoft protect itself from the litigation thrown its way by buying “a small country, and structure the deal as a reverse merger.” Owning Micronesia, for example, could provide protection from anti-trust litigation under the Foreign Sovereign Immunities Act!

As Paul Nunes of the Accenture Institute for High Performance says of The Laws of Disruption, “…not knowing the laws of disruption for companies in today’s rapidly digitizing world could prove fatal.” This caution applies to nonprofit organizations and institutions as well.

International consultant, fellow at Stanford Law School’s Center for Internet and Society (the other CIS) and my expert on all things internet, Larry is the guy who understands where Kryptonite is buried in the web. Read this book!