Power over Information Flows

Information flows through a global environment characterized by conflict and competition. One party wants a flow to occur; another wants to block it. To illustrate: users want to freely exchange information, while governments and businesses seek to block information harmful to their interests. Spies try to infiltrate the networks of their adversaries and competitors to gather intelligence, while their targets employ security mechanisms to prevent network exploitation and attack. Hackers and identity thieves send e-mails loaded with viruses and other forms of malicious software, while users employ anti-viral tools to block the same.