One line says it all: "Along the way, the Internet has completely upended entire industries, killing off or reducing many of the existing power brokers"
That's the reason all this doesn't happen faster. The post office never got a clue about email until it was too late (remember when they actually offered a service to transmit mail electronically, print it out, and then deliver it the old-fashioned way?), thinking their government sponsored monopoly would protect them. Every one of the industries mentioned in the article is fighting back via laws and whatever roadblocks they can throw up. Nobody in the future is ever going to be asleep when the internet threatens them. Change will be a lot harder.
Also, with the health industry legal concerns cause a lot of the problems. It doesn't matter that somebody else took your medical history or ran a particular test. Sharing information still doesn't remove you from legal liability. When you wind up in court with a malpractice suit, the question is always why didn't you run that test yourself and catch whatever mistake got you sued?
Discussion on:
Message 11 of 1
The best of ZDNet, delivered
ZDNet Newsletters
Get the best of ZDNet delivered straight to your inbox
