Information Control
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Date: March, 2003
The 21st century is the Information Age. There are many issues that we face now that are the same as they have been for the last two hundred years. For example, how should the government allocate its resources? Should we spend money on building the military, or should we give more to the poor?
But the issue even more powerful than this issue of resource allocation is the issue of information control. How is information gathered, who can access it, and who controls the channels of distribution: these are the key issues of the 21st century.
Let me just list a few areas in which infomation control plays a vital part.
- The DCMA (the digital millenium corporate act), is a law that governs how digital materials can be copyrighted, and the penalties for copying them. The DCMA will determine how movies are made and distributed, as well as books. It will determine the future of bookstores and libraries.
- CIA and FBI are currently fighting a war against terrorism. To do this, they have had to crack down on our civil liberties. Their goal is to gain information about every citizen, and use data mining technology to analyze it.
- UPS is an international company that can ship goods in a single day. The basis of UPS is in fact controlling information, so that they can have a network of suppliers and transport. As the sophistication of such companies increases, will they playt a quasi-governmental role?
- Scientists are making great progress in studying the human genome. This genome can be reduced to a series of digital bits. Will each of us be tested, and have our DNA saved in school records? Will we be able to copy other people's DNA?
- And of course the internet. How will the internet shape national and international politics?
- The role of governments around the world in controlling information. In a repressive country like
the Soviet Union, all information was controlled by the government, and the people had no access to information. But in modern China, the people are starting to have access to the internet.
As you can see from this short list, control of information technology affects our lives in so many ways. In this book, we would like to establish broad themes that reach across multidisciplinary areas.