A classic example of the problems being created by the information explosion – which will only get worse if the so-called information superhighway ever arrives, is cited by the San Jose Mercury News – vital information can be in the public domain, yet get lost in the vast morass of similar, related or irrelevant information: the News points out that for nearly a year before John Sculley joined Spectrum Information Technologies Inc, Bloomberg Business News reporter David Evans had, against the advice of his editors, compiled an on-line chronicle of every twist in the Spectrum saga; the paper says a 10-minute search of the service would have shown Sculley Spectrum’s practice of hawking its shares on infomercials on Los Angeles television, the inflating of its patent portfolio from three to more than 200 and the vast overstatement of the value of its contract with AT&T Co – and about the shareholder lawsuit where he now finds himself a defendent.
