So I just met Harry Max (at a dinner for Dave Winer, hosted by Sylvia Paull. Aside: it was fun, and there was one, yes one! guy there who had never seen a blog. So Scott Rosenberg gave him an idea of what blogs are about and I suggested he start with JD's because JD has a lot of topics grouped, plus the blog roll to the left has a variety of people linked, with the little stars noting recent updates, and could get him to everyone else around the table including Dave.) So, Harry has conceived and founded Public Mind where users request some information or help or product, and then other users respond. They are either going to be huge in a month, or we will never hear of them again, he said. Though they have been in development for 4 years, surviving by twists and turns the tech blow out.

But my question is, how do you manage the IP? I mean, what if someone thinks up something they need (the mother of invention) and writes it up in great detail, and someone else answers it, matches it in effect. Who is the originator? Yes, ideas cannot be copyrighted, but the idea expression dichotomy argument could get another run here. As groups grow, and the group think happens (there are 7 users in that discussion), will they come up with something that is patentable or copyrightable? I mean, it's the best of digital media, the best of collaboration and finding needs and filling them with hopefully meaningful solutions.

But how do you do the IP?

Do you redo IP, when you realize the IP issues with digital media? Or do you redo the digital media side of things? So if digital media disintermediates power, and in this case, the power of the IP regime to contain our jointly conceived of and built product, across disparate nodes of people and information, then how do you contain the disruptive process for making digital media?