Information Policy

3 Credits

Access, exchange, and management of information are key recurring issues throughout the history of the United States. This course examines selected public policy questions relating to information and communications, with special attention to complex policy issues involving value conflicts among information ownership rights, personal privacy rights, and public access rights to information. We will focus on policy on all scales, ranging from rules enforced by organizations to voluntary and de facto standards to constitutional principles, statutory provisions, laws and regulations, and federal policies. Topics include access to information laws, government, privacy, secrecy, government surveillance, intellectual property, censorship, and international issues. The course provides information professionals with a fundamental understanding of the importance of information policy on the information profession and the tools to address information policy issues in the workplace.