School of Information - The University of Texas at Austin LIS , Information Technologies & the Information Professions LIS Information Technologies and the Information Professions Introduction to Information Policy Philip Doty and R. E. Wyllys Copyright © 2001 by Philip Doty and R. E. Wyllys Last revised 2003 Mar 23

School of Information - The University of Texas at Austin LIS , Information Technologies & the Information Professions Lesson Objectives You will –Acquire an introductory understanding of Information Policy and its areas of concern

School of Information - The University of Texas at Austin LIS , Information Technologies & the Information Professions What Is Information Policy? Information policy is –The rules and procedures, both formal and informal, both de jure and de facto, that affect, both positively and negatively, the flow of information in society Information policy concerns us all because –Information has value--often very high value –Many people and organizations come into conflict over rights, both real and claimed, to various pieces and various domains of information –Information is inextricably entwined with many public concerns

School of Information - The University of Texas at Austin LIS , Information Technologies & the Information Professions What Does Information Policy Study? As an area of study, information policy is concerned with such matters as –Censorship –Freedom of access to government information –Limitations on access to private information –Copyright and other rights to intellectual property –Dissemination of government information –Literacy

School of Information - The University of Texas at Austin LIS , Information Technologies & the Information Professions What Does Information Policy Study? (cont'd) Information policy is also concerned with the development of standards to –Facilitate access to public information –Guard the privacy of private information –Assist in the management of records and the selective preservation of information Many difficult questions arise when we examine carefully the issues on this and the preceding slide, especially from the standpoint of writing laws to deal with them.

School of Information - The University of Texas at Austin LIS , Information Technologies & the Information Professions Censorship Most people applaud freedom of speech and oppose censorship--except in certain areas, such as –Information about their own private and personal matters, such as How much money do you have in the bank? What do you sometimes do when no one is looking? –Obscene materials What is obscenity? How can it be defined? Should there be different rights of access to obscene materials for adults vs. for children?

School of Information - The University of Texas at Austin LIS , Information Technologies & the Information Professions Censorship (cont'd) Obscene materials raise some especially difficult issues. For example: Should child pornography be banned outright? –My answer is that I agree with the long-standing legal argument that it should be banned, on the grounds that, using photography, an item of child pornography can exist only as the result of sexual abuse of a child. –But digital-image techniques have now developed to such a degree that artists can create wholly fictional images that are indistinguishable from photographs. What does this fact do to the argument for banning child pornography? And how could legislators write a law banning child pornography but not pictures created wholly by the imaginations of artists?

School of Information - The University of Texas at Austin LIS , Information Technologies & the Information Professions Access to Government Information In the U.S., freedom of information laws at the Federal level and in most states guarantee the right of the public to have access to most, but not all, of the information that the governments have. –Exceptions include: Personnel records Military and diplomatic information –To what extent are such exceptions justified? What limits should be placed on such exceptions?

School of Information - The University of Texas at Austin LIS , Information Technologies & the Information Professions Rights to Private Information? What rights do private individuals have to keep information private? to conceal information? –If you know that a defendant in a murder trial is innocent, should you be forced to reveal that information? Even if doing so would embarrass you? Even if doing so would harm you or a member of your family?

School of Information - The University of Texas at Austin LIS , Information Technologies & the Information Professions Rights to Private Information? Most people tend to consider privacy as a right to which they attach high value, and they fear invasions of their privacy by other individuals and by government and private agencies and organizations.

School of Information - The University of Texas at Austin LIS , Information Technologies & the Information Professions Rights to Private Information? But there are people who argue that the value of privacy is overrated and that certain losses of privacy serve a beneficial purpose. For example: –Declan McCullagh, in "Why Internet Privacy Is Overrated," argues that "Compiling personal information lets businesses become more efficient and produce only products that people want. It reduces waste... [and] helps in customization."Why Internet Privacy Is Overrated –David Plotz, in "Privacy Is Overrated" (Reader's Digest, March 2003, ), declares similarly that "surveillance cameras reduce shoplifting and stop ATM robberies.... Lack of privacy actually tends to fight crime, not cause it." Further, "One wonderful, terrible thing about modern capitalism is that companies don't care. You are not a person. You are a wallet." And finally, "The Internet allows people who have peculiar interests, social awkwardness or debilitating health problems to create communities that never could have existed before."

School of Information - The University of Texas at Austin LIS , Information Technologies & the Information Professions Copyright Concerns Copyright originated as the right of an author to earn money from his or her work. It has been extended so that organizations can hold copyright, and the period of copyright has been extended to the life of the author plus 70 years. –Though a "life + 70" period may be justifiable for a human author, can it really be justified for a corporate author? Note that an analogous right, a patent, carries a maximum period of only 20 years. How can copyright be exerted meaningfully in an era of electronic copying, e.g., Napster?

School of Information - The University of Texas at Austin LIS , Information Technologies & the Information Professions Dissemination of Government Information What obligations do governments have to make access to their information –Available readily to all? –Available only to qualified persons and organizations? Qualified how? –To make reasonable charges for supplying information? After all, supplying information does cost money that must come either from the user(s) of the information or from taxpayers in general?

School of Information - The University of Texas at Austin LIS , Information Technologies & the Information Professions Literacy What obligations do governments have to ensure literacy among their publics? –We can all agree that democracies, in their own self-interest, must promote literacy among their citizens. –But what constitutes an "adequate" level of literacy? An eighth-grade reading level? –And what should governments ensure in the areas of literacy with respect to Numbers ("numeracy") The use of computers (computer literacy)? The use of media tools?

School of Information - The University of Texas at Austin LIS , Information Technologies & the Information Professions Information Policy The questions we have been asking illustrate why every concerned citizen of a democracy should--and, even more so, every member of the library and information professions needs--to –Be aware of Information Policy studies –To participate in society's efforts to answer such questions

School of Information - The University of Texas at Austin LIS , Information Technologies & the Information Professions Information Policy Deals with Many Difficult Questions and Divisive Social Issues