Transcript LIS 397.1 Introduction to Research in Library and

LIS 386.13
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 386.13, 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 386.13, 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 386.13, 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 386.13, 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 386.13, 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 386.13, 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 386.13, 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 386.13, 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 386.13, 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 386.13, 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."
– David Plotz, in "Privacy Is Overrated" (Reader's Digest, March
2003, 105-109), 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 386.13, 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 386.13, 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 386.13, 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 386.13, 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 386.13, Information Technologies & the Information Professions
Information
Policy
Deals with
Many
Difficult
Questions
and
Divisive
Social
Issues
School of Information - The University of Texas at Austin
LIS 386.13, Information Technologies & the Information Professions