Information policy

Information policy is the set of all public laws, regulations and policies that encourage, discourage, or regulate the creation, use, storage, access, and communication and dissemination of information. It thus encompasses any other decision-making practice with society-wide constitutive efforts that involve the flow of information and how it is processed.

There are several fundamental issues that comprise information policy. Most prominent are public policy issues concerned with the use of information for democratization and commercialization of social life. These issues include, inter alia, digital environment, such as intellectual property, economic regulations, freedom of expression, confidentiality or privacy of information, information security, access management, and regulating how the dissemination of public information occurs.

Information policy became a prominent field of study during the latter half of the 20th century as the shift from an industrial to an information society transpired. It has since then evolved from being seen as relatively unimportant to having a much more overarching strategic significance since it establishes the conditions “under which all other decision making, public discourse, and political activity occur.” The growing awareness in the importance of information policy has sparked an interest in various groups to further study and analyze its magnitude. The most common audience for information policy analysis includes undergraduate and graduate students, scholars, policymakers, policy analysts, as well as those members of the public who have taken an interest in understanding the effects of the laws and regulations involving information.

Although information policy generally has a broader definition and encapsulates a multitude of components, its scope and impact can vary depending on the context. For example, in the context of an information lifecycle, information policy refers to the laws and policies that deal with the stages information goes through beginning with its creation, through its collection, organization, dissemination, and finally to its destruction. On the other hand, in the context of public administration, information policy is the means by which government employees, institutions, and information systems adapt themselves to an environment in rapid fluctuation and use information for decision-making (e.g., Andersen and Dawes, 1991; also see Bozeman and Bretschneider, 1986, and Stevens and McGowan, 1985). One can see how these two contexts offer varying scopes for the phrase “ information policy.”

Information policy is in fact, a combination of several varying disciplines including information science, economics, law, and public policy. Thus, its scope may differ when each of these disciplines analyses or uses it. The information sciences may be more concerned with technical advances and how this impacts information policy, while from a law perspective, issues such as privacy rights and intellectual property may be of greatest focus.

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