Netpolicy.com

This work offers a panoramic view of the Internet's cyclonic effects on national and global institutions, ranging from government and finance to health care, education and industry. To cope with this digital revolution, the author provides a comprehensive prescription for crucial public policy needs. Beginning with the worldwide struggle between government control and privates sector leadership of the Net, he looks at the basic properties of the Net: its disregard of national boundaries; its virtual nature; and its impact on the global economy, democracy, money, power, ecology and culture. The book asks how we can encourage the healthy growth of the Net and avoid its darker side effects. Examining the current approaches of numerous governments and international organizations, this book covers such critical issues as privacy, free expression, access, international trade, security, taxation, telecommunications legislation, legal frameworks, and government research. The text asserts that the unique American embrace of free expression, open markets and private initiative will keep the USA in the vanguard of cyberspace, provided the private sector acts responsibly. Closed, non-democratic societies, the author argues, will fall ever further behind, economically, politically, and culturally.