Information policy making: developing the rules of the road for the information society (or the anatomy of a digital economy act)

This chapter concentrates on information and public policy. In an information society, the default rules of the road are our information laws. Yet information laws have traditionally resided far beyond the notice of all but specialist lawyers, lobbyists and traditional industries built upon them. The making of UK Digital Economy Act 2010, however, attracted an unprecedented level of public interest in addition to the traditional industry lobbying that is an integral part of the process of getting information laws on the statute books. The chapter discusses the implications of the Act for information use in the United Kingdom, and for the changing understanding of information in the public realm.