ITR: Understanding "Code": How Information Technologies Regulate Behavior

特定的协议和机制（例如，“cookies”、“finger”命令、消息头的设计）嵌入在诸如互联网的常用信息技术中，能够影响在线环境中的体验并调节行为。 将进行一系列历史案例研究，以了解这些机制的使用如何产生社会后果。这些案例研究将涵盖互联网的历史发展，以及言论自由、隐私和知识产权等社会价值观如何推动这些发展。将采用记录方法和定性访谈。这些案例研究的结果将使人们更好地了解在在线环境中建立规范、习俗和共识的过程。此外，这项研究将有助于理论模型的发展，以帮助政策制定者了解如何敏感的IT设计（及其各种机制，协议等）。可能是制定新的法律和条例的一种替代办法，以利用新的信息技术实现积极的社会成果。最后，本研究探讨网际网路的商业化与私有化，与我们既定的宪法与社会价值观之间的关系。

Particular protocols and mechanisms (e.g., "cookies," "finger" commands, the design of message headers), as embedded in commonly used information technologies such as the Internet, have the ability to affect experiences in online environments and to regulate behavior. A series of historical case studies will be conducted to understand how the use of these mechanisms can have social consequences. These case studies will encompass the historical development of the Internet as well as the ways in which social values such as free speech, privacy, and intellectual property rights have intersected these developments. Documentary methods and qualitative interviews will be used. The results of these case studies will allow a better understanding of the processes that build norms, customs, and consensus in online environments. Further, this research will aid in the development of theoretical models to assist policy makers in understanding how sensitivity to the design of IT (and its various mechanisms, protocols, etc.) may be an alternative to formulating new laws and regulations to achieve positive social outcomes from new information technologies. Finally, this research addresses the relationship between the commercialization and privatization of the Internet and our established constitutional and social values.