This book provides an introductory overview to all of the major policy issues in the United States related to information technology.

These issues include federal funding of research that helped to create the Internet; telecommunications issues such as regulations about wireless technologies; computer security and homeland defense; governance and use of the Internet such as spam, viruses, electronic voting, taxation of online commerce, and child pornography; privacy; intellectual property issues such as copyright infringement related to peer-to-peer sharing of music and video files, or trademark infringement through the misuse of domain names (cybersquatting); antitrust in the software industry; uneven access to information technology in poor, rural, and minority communities (Digital Divide); and visas for foreign workers. Every chapter identifies the main players, the history of legislation and court cases in this area, and describes recent events.

Accessible and interesting to both policy people and technical computing people, as well as to any computer user or IT worker who wanted a general understanding of these issues.

The book will help policy people, most of whom are generalists, to understand the basic issues of IT policy. The book will also help IT professionals to understand the process by which their technology is politically controlled.

Praise from the Critics
"This book is a landmark. Its ten chapters provide an accessible yet authoritative introduction to the major topics surrounding information technology policy in the United States, topics such as privacy, Internet governance, workforce, computer security, antitrust, R&D funding, intellectual property, and the digital divide. This book will prove invaluable to all who must chase Moore's Law: those who seek to understand and shape the laws and policies that must keep pace with the exponential rate of change in the information technology field."
- Edward D. Lazowska, Bill & Melinda Gates Chair in Computer Science at the University of Washington, and Co-Chair of the President's Information Technology Advisory Committee

"Technologists usually think that policy makers don't understand technology. Policy makers often think that technologists don't understand policy. Both camps are basically right, but this excellent and accessible-to-all volume will go a long way towards changing that dysfunctional gap. This outstanding volume is balanced in scope, and each chapter is carefully crafted to provide both historical perspective and current examples. I highly recommend it."
- Peter A. Freeman, Founding Dean and Professor, College of Computing Georgia Institute of Technology

"Very approachable and readable. Wonderful background for computing professionals interested in understanding the Washington policy-making establishment. Easy-to-follow chronology of how and why US technology policies got to where they are now, and how and why they continue to evolve. We learn how the interests of various stakeholders have shaped our current policies and are given the tools to make informed guesses as to what might happen next.
- James D. Foley, Chairman, Board of Directors, Computing Research Association; and Stephen Fleming Chair in Telecommunications, College of Computing, Georgia Tech

Preface
1. Research and Development Funding
2. Telecommunications and Computing
3. Internet Governance
4. Internet Use
5. Computer Security and Critical Infrastructure
6. Privacy
7. Intellectual Property
8. Antitrust
9. Digital Divide
10. Workforce
List of Acronyms Appearing in Book

William Aspray is professor of informatics at Indiana University in Bloomington, where he studies the historical, political, social, and economic aspects of information technology. He holds Bachelor's and Master's degrees in mathematics from Wesleyan University and a doctorate in history of science from University of Wisconsin at Madison. He previously taught at Williams, Harvard, Penn, Rutgers, Minnesota, and Virginia Tech. He has served as a senior administrator at the Charles Babbage Institute for the History of Information Processing, the IEEE Center for the History of Electrical Engineering, and the Computing Research Association.