How the United States’ regulation of broadband pipelines, digital platforms, and data—together understood as “the cloud”—has eroded civil liberties, democratic principles, and the foundation of the public interest over the past century. Cloud Policy is a policy history that chronicles how the past century of regulating media infrastructure in the United States has eroded global civil liberties as well as democratic principles and the foundation of the public interest. Jennifer Holt explores the long arc of regulating broadband pipelines, digital platforms, and the data centers that serve as the cloud’s storage facilities—an evolution that is connected to the development of nineteenth- and twentieth-century media and networks, including railroads, highways, telephony, radio, and television. In the process, Cloud Policy unearths the lasting inscriptions of policy written for an analog era and markets that no longer exist on the contemporary governance of digital cloud infrastructure. Cloud Policy brings together numerous perspectives that have thus far remained largely siloed in their respective fields of law, policy, economics, and media studies. The resulting interdisciplinary argument reveals a properly scaled view of the massive challenge facing policymakers today. Holt also addresses the evolving role of the state in the regulation of global cloud infrastructure and the growing influence of corporate gatekeepers and private sector self-governance. Cloud policy’s trajectory, as Holt explains, has enacted a transformation in the cultural valuation of infrastructure as civic good, turning it into a tool of commercial profit generation. Despite these current predicaments, the book’s historical lens ultimately helps the reader to envision restorative interventions and new forms of activism to create a more equitable future for infrastructure policy.

A collection of expert essays examines the privacy rights that have been lost in the post-9/11 era—giving students and others the knowledge they need to take back their constitutional protections. This timely two-volume collection shares information every citizen should have, tackling the erosion of privacy rights engendered by the ability of digital technology to intercept, mine, and store personal data, most often without the knowledge of those being monitored. Examining its subject through the lens of Fourth Amendment rights, the work focuses on technological advances that now gather personal data on an unprecedented scale, whether by monitoring social media, tracking cell phones, or using thermal imaging to watch people's movement. It also examines the possible impact of the widespread gathering of such data by law enforcement and security agencies and by private corporations such as Google. Organized by hot-button topics confronting U.S. citizens in the post-9/11 era, the work reviews the original intent of the Fourth Amendment and then traces the development and erosion of interpretations of that amendment in the 21st century. Topical essays offer a comprehensive treatment and understanding of current Fourth Amendment issues, including those that have been brought before the courts and those relative to the continuing governmental and societal emphasis on security and public safety since the Columbine shootings in 1999 and the events of September 11, 2001.

There is no comprehensive federal privacy statute that protects personal info. Instead, a patchwork of federal laws and regulations govern the collection and disclosure of personal info. and has been addressed by Congress on a sector-by-sector basis. Some contend that this is insufficient to meet the demands of today¿s technology. Contents of this report: (1) Background; (2) Federal Legal Framework for the Privacy of Online Personal Info.: Constitutional Protections; Statutory Protections; (3) The Federal Trade Comm. (FTC): FTC Enforcement Actions Concerning the Privacy of Personal Info.; (4) Recent Policy Initiatives; (5) Electronic Communications Privacy Act Reform. This is a print on demand report.

Communication Technology and Social Change is a distinctive collection that provides current theoretical, empirical, and legal analyses for a broader understanding of the dynamic influences of communication technology on social change. With a distinguished panel of contributors, the volume presents a systematic discussion of the role communication technology plays in shaping social, political, and economic influences in society within specific domains and settings. Its integrated focus expands and complements the scope of existing literature on this subject. Each chapter is organized around a specific structure, covering: *Background—offering an introduction of relevant communication technology that outlines its technical capabilities, diffusion, and uses; *Theory—featuring a discussion of relevant theories used to study the social impacts of the communication technology in question; *Empirical Findings—providing an analysis of recent academic and relevant practical work that explains the impact of the communication technology on social change; and *Social Change Implications—proposing a summary of the real world implications for social change that stems from synthesizing the relevant theories and empirical findings presented throughout the book. Communication Technology and Social Change will serve scholars, researchers, upper-division undergraduate students, and graduate students examining the relationship between communication and technology and its implications for society.