ABSTRACT
This chapter focuses on how changes in software can be used as a form of governance and also on how policymakers can utilize two aspects of software, defaults and standards, as a method of governance. The chapter also targets on how changes in software can affect the use of information technology, such as wireless access points or the v-chip. In this chapter, people pull together relevant concepts and examples to illustrate how government ought to use governance characteristics. It relies on social science to provide a theoretical explication of how technology regulates, referred to as information technology and societal interactions. The chapter discusses separately the economic, the sociopolitical, and technological consequences of open standards. It provides a way for policymakers to utilize software to serve societal ends by relying on insights from social science and computer science. Hence, the chapter focuses on the two governance characteristics, defaults and standards.
