The fact that the most characteristic commodities of cognitive capitalism are information- and knowledge-goods introduces an intrinsic factor of uncertainty that did not exist during the era of Fordism. The nature of these goods (their indivisibility, non-rivalry and non-excludability) makes them similar to public goods. This is a major challenge, because private ownership of such goods is the exception rather than the rule. On the other hand, digitisation and new information technology are eliminating the major obstacles to the violation of property rights.

Since it has to do with knowledge-goods, financialisation appears in a first phase to remove the obstacles that these present to their transformation into goods that are rival, divisible and excludable. But, in the era of the digital, it calls for the creation of enclosures by means of new property rights and digital management rights. These new enclosures have a depressive effect on the intensity and quality of innovation. The alternative strategies consist in the creation of new public spaces and conditions for free public access to the digital commons [...]