A few years back, I fretted in print that, given the mounting proprietary claims in some scientific fields, we risked entering a new kind of Dark Ages, replete with warring fiefdoms tightly guarding their knowledge. Okay, I admit the metaphor was a bit heavy handed. But with the "new economy" so obsessed with intellectual property, I could see just how frequently secrecy was replacing the collegial, open exchange of scientific information.

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