International Affairs & Technology Policy > Summary

This class will examine the reciprocal relationship of technology and technology policies, on the one hand, and relations within and between states, on the other. In other words it will study how technology policies are influencing international affairs and, similarly, how international affairs have influenced and determined technology policy. We will discuss technology policy along four critical dimensions: law, norms, the market, and architecture or code. We will argue that technology policy is not just a matter for lawmakers but is also set down by the private sector exercising market interests, society broadly as described by cultural norms, and engineers who imbed policy in their built environment.

Our ultimate goal is for a robust understanding of global Internet governance (IG). We will seek to understand the international issues of IG around matters of security, intellectual property, privacy, infrastructure, technical standards, content, cryptography, authentication, electronic commerce, and related concerns. We will start out, however, with a historical consideration of policies in the United States (primarily) and the desire to reduce public control of communications in an electronic era.