The Internet Unpheaval: Raising Questions, Seeking Answers in Public Policy

Exploring how information technologies, in particular the Internet, are upending fundamental economic and social structures.

At the beginning of 2000, the U.S. economy was enjoying the longest period of sustained growth and economic prosperity in its history. According to The Internet Upheaval, part of the explanation for this phenomenon is a consequence of how information technologies, in particular the Internet, are upending fundamental economic and social structures.These research studies explore some of the telecommunications policy ramifications of this upheaval. The first section addresses the complexities of adapting the First Amendment to the Internet, the debate over the taxation of e-commerce, and Internet users' attitudes toward online privacy. The second section looks at how the Internet has changed, or will change, traditional models used by economists, sociologists, and others to explain how the world works. The third section discusses the need for new economic models to deal with the rapidly changing competitive landscape. Finally, the fourth section examines economic and policy aspects of universal service.Contributors Mark S. Ackerman, James C. Brent, Barbara A. Cherry, Benjamin M. Compaine, Lorrie Faith Cranor, Irina Dmitrieva, Robert S. Gazzale, Austan Goolsbee, Shane Greenstein, R. Glenn Hubbard, Jed Kelko, Steven G. Lanning, William Lehr, Douglas Lichtman, Jeffrey K. MacKie-Mason, Paul Milgrom, Bridger Mitchell, Geoffrey Myers, W. Russell Neuman, Shawn R. O'Donnell, Joseph Reagle, Michael Riordan, Juan F. Riveros, Gregory L. Rosston, Padmanabhan Srinagesh, Linda O. Valenty, Bradley S. Wimmer.

Benjamin M. Compaine is Senior Research Affiliate at the Internet and Telecoms Convergence Consortium at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology. He is the editor of The Digital Divide: Facing a Crisis or Creating a Myth? (MIT Press, 2001) and coauthor of Who Owns the Media?