A recent look at cybersecurity by the folks at Information Week makes a point heard in other industries also being remade by ubiquitous Internet connectivity: the collaborative behavior required to meet the challenge flies in the face of Capitalism’s proprietary and competitive DNA.

Here is how Information Week put it: “While the benefits of public-private partnerships are clear, the challenges are pervasive: a lack of trust between parties; laws and regulations that discourage full disclosure of information; the vested interests of security vendors; fear of bad publicity and customer backlash; and silos and turf wars within government agencies.”

Even in industries where all are agreed collaboration is the key to success, competitive history and a century of legal precedent is hard to overcome.  There is nothing new to this.  The market has historically been viewed as a zero-sum game, where the advance of one company comes at the expense of another.  It is clear this will have to change.  It is equally clear it will not be easy.

Take a look at the emerging Accountable Care Organizations, a key element in health care reform.  As described by National Public Radio, “An ACO is a network of doctors and hospitals that shares responsibility for providing care to patients. In the new law, an ACO would agree to manage all of the health care needs of a minimum of 5,000 Medicare beneficiaries for at least three years.”  A key element of the success of an ACO is driven by technology and the implementation of electronic health records that normalize patient information everywhere, exactly when it is needed and helping save lives.

Such collaboration may be understood by all as the key to lower costs and better outcomes, but the Department of Justice frowns upon such market coordination.  In fact, the regulations designed to allow it to happen run over 400 pages long.

Right now, collaboration must walk a narrow line, but industries already on that path will lead the way for the rest.  We all have new things to learn.