Software is increasingly seen as a policy tool to influence societal concerns such as privacy, freedom of speech and intellectual property protection. A necessary step in this process is deciding what the ‘settings’ should be for the relevant software. One powerful setting in software is...

This study employs empirical data to provide insights into the impact of open standards. This work moves beyond the existing literature's reliance on hand-picked case studies by analyzing a very large number of open standards. The results of this research are timely as governments are...

In 2003, Massachusetts embarked on a policy to transition to open standards for information technology. This policy led Massachusetts to switch the format of its electronic documents for its public records from a proprietary standard to an open standard. This article documents this historic...

Information technologies affect a variety of fundamental societal concerns, such as privacy and free speech. Policymakers currently analyze each societal concern as sui generis, ignoring commonalities among IT issues. This paper develops a comprehensive descriptive framework to address a variety...

This article chronicles the historic process of Massachusetts becoming the first government to mandate an open standard for document formats. In 2005, Massachusetts mandated the use of the OpenDocument Format (ODF) as part of a transition to open standards. The article also analyzes the...

This Article deconstructs code using case studies and shows that code is not neutral and apolitical but instead embodies the values and motivations of the institutions and actors building it. The term "code," as we use it, consists of the hardware and software components of information...

Today's internet presumes that individuals use software to make their own decisions to regulate spam, security, indecent content, and privacy. This emphasis assumes that individuals are both interested in and capable of setting filters, settings, and preferences. This assumption is worrying --...