In order to fully appreciate the SNS concept of “Economic Cyberwar,” one should start with the idea that the form of war preferred by mercantilist states is not militarist, but economic. Any military conflict is the result of poor planning, and reduces the economic success of the mercantilist, since exports are the prime source of revenues.
And in order to fully appreciate the importance of this subject, it may be helpful to do a quick review of the role of Intellectual Property in modern trade and economics.
Much is made of the word “innovation” in today’s world, but very few seem to know anything about it. Let’s stipulate that creativity, innovation, drives the creation of Intellectual Property, and let’s further suggest that IP is the core economic value structure in an Information Society, the civilization model most of the world enjoys today.
IP may be created and owned by individuals, nonprofits, or universities and research laboratories, but the preponderance of IP is created under, and owned by, corporations. Hundreds of billions of dollars – perhaps even trillions – are invested annually by corporations to create new IP. Shareholders demand a return on this investment.
I will note here, and come back to, a shifting level of international organization: company, country, civilization/society. We will want to pay attention to the changing role of corporate IP control vis-a-vis these other structures.