Rajiv C. Shah

Software defaults as de facto regulation: The case of the wireless internet

Todays internet presumes that individuals are capable of configuring software to address issues such as spam, security, indecent content, and privacy. This assumption is worrying – common sense and empirical evidence state that not everyone is so interested or so skilled. When regulatory decisions are left to individuals, for the unskilled the default settings are the law. This article relies on evidence from the deployment of wireless routers and finds that defaults act as de facto regulation for the poor and poorly educated. This paper presents a large sample behavioral study of how people modify their 802.11 (‘Wi-Fi’) wireless access points from two distinct sources. The first is a secondary analysis of WifiMaps.com, one of the largest online databases of wireless router information. The second is an original wireless survey of portions of three census tracts in Chicago, selected as a diversity sample for contrast in education and income. By constructing lists of known default settings for specific brands and models, we were then able to identify how people changed their default settings. Our results show that the default settings for wireless access points are powerful. Media reports and instruction manuals have increasingly urged users to change defaults – especially passwords, network names, and encryption settings. Despite this, only half of all users change any defaults at all on the most popular brand of router. Moreover, we find that when a manufacturer sets a default 96–99 percent of users follow the suggested behavior, while only 28–57 percent of users acted to change these same default settings when exhorted to do so by expert sources. Finally, there is also a suggestion that those living in areas with lower incomes and levels of education are less likely to change defaults, although these data are not conclusive. These results show how the authority of software trumps that of advice. Consequently, policy-makers must acknowledge and address the power of software to act as de facto regulation.

Recipes for cookies: how institutions shape communication technologies

The ability of communication technologies to favor certain societal concerns, such as privacy, is widely recognized. This article argues that an institutional analysis is central to understanding how a technology affects a societal concern. This is demonstrated with a case study of cookie technology, which has been shaped in differing ways by universities, firms and consortia. A comparative institutional analysis finds that each of these institutions act according to their own norms and processes in influencing the recipe for cookies. It is these institutional tendencies that shape cookie technology. By understanding these tendencies, policymakers can better assess, predict and proactively influence the development of communication technologies to improve societal welfare.

Lessons for open standard policies: a case study of the Massachusetts experience

In 2003, Massachusetts embarked on a policy to transition to open standards for information technology. This policy led Massachusetts to switch the format of its electronic documents for its public records from a proprietary, to an open standard. This article documents this historic process, as Massachusetts was the first government to switch its information technology over to open standards. The article also analyzes the Massachusetts experience to develop a set of lessons learned. The resulting guidance should aid governments that are considering policies that encourage or favor open standards.

An Empirical Examination of Open Standards Development

This project uses empirical data to provide insights into the impact of open standards. This work moves beyond the existing literature by considering a large number of open standards, instead of handpicked case studies. The results of this research will be timely, as governments are advocating and sometimes mandating the use of open standards. We found inequalities in the impact of open standards that suggest a power law relationship, found that the duration of the development process does not affect the impact of a standard, and found the length of a standard (number of words), which reflects the technical complexity of a standard, affects the impact of a standard.

Policy through software defaults

As part of digital government, policymakers are increasingly considering the use software to influence societal concerns such as privacy, freedom of speech, and intellectual property protection. A necessary step is deciding what the settings should be for software. In this paper, we build upon work in computer science and behavioral economics to argue how defaults in software should be set.

Incorporating societal concerns into communication technologies

Communication technologies are now widely acknowledged to contain values that affect societal concerns, such as privacy. This paper argues that an important source of the values is the societal institution in which the communication technology is developed. This paper analyzes how four different societal institutions, universities, firms, consortia, and the open source movement incorporate societal concerns during the production of communication technologies. The analysis provides insights into how institutions can be employed proactively to incorporate societal values into communication technologies.

Lessons for Government Adoption of Open Standards: A Case Study of the Massachusetts Policy

ABSTRACT This article chronicles the historic process of Massachusetts becoming the first government to mandate an open standard for document formats. In 2005, Massachusetts mandated the use of the OpenDocument Format (ODF) as part of a transition to open standards. The article also analyzes the Massachusetts experience and develops a set of lessons learned. The first set of lessons includes a focus on the difficulties of being an early adopter and factors that influenced the adoption mandate. Governments seeking to mandate specific document formats need to be aware of these factors. A second set of lessons focuses on decisions in establishing a standards policy. These lessons emphasize a clear definition of open standards, whether to mandate an open standard, and for government to carefully consider the expected benefits and costs of a standards policy. Overlooking costs, such as legacy equipment and training costs, can lead to disappointing results. These lessons are applicable, not only for decisions regarding document formats, but also for open standards policies for other technologies. 1

Setting Online Policy with Software Defaults

Software is increasingly seen as a policy tool to influence societal concerns such as privacy, freedom of speech and intellectual property protection. A necessary step in this process is deciding what the ‘settings’ should be for the relevant software. One powerful setting in software is defaults. This article puts forth a framework for how default settings should be determined. This normative approach towards software settings stands apart from most previous scholarship, which focuses on the effect of software. The framework is illustrated with an example of an incorrectly set default in Apples Airport Extreme wireless access point. Policymakers can influence competition, security, and privacy by relying on this framework. We believe that the manipulation of software to enhance social welfare is a powerful tool and a useful complement to traditional legal methods. This material is based upon work supported by the National Science Foundation under Grant No. IIS-0429217. Any opinions, findings, and conclusions or recommendations expressed in this material are those of the authors and do not necessarily reflect the views of the National Science Foundation.

Evaluating the interoperability of document formats: ODF and OOXML as examples

This project assesses the current state of interoperability among different software implementations of the document formats OpenDocument Format (ODF) and Office Open XML (OOXML). Numerous governments are considering mandating either or both formats for their electronic documents. For ODF, the dominant implementation is OpenOffice.org and for OOXML, the dominant implementation is Microsoft Office. This research scores the performance of other alternative implementations for ODF and OOXML. The goal is to assess the current state of interoperability for document formats. The results show that there are no alternative implementations, for either ODF or OOXML, that offer 100% compatibility with the dominant implementations. The results are troubling and suggest the need for improved interoperability testing. Without such testing, governments will be locked-in into the dominant implementations for either standard.

Running Code as Part of an Open Standards Policy

Governments around the world are considering implementing or even mandating open standards policies. They believe these policies will provide economic, socio-political, and technical benefits. In this article, we analyze Massachusetts’s open standards policy as applied to document formats. This policy was known as the open formats policy, and Massachusetts believed it would offer substantial economic and technological benefits. However, our analysis shows these benefits never emerged. The failure of the open formats policy is due to the lack of running code. Running code refers to multiple independent, interoperable implementations of an open standard. With running code, users have choice in their adoption of a software product. Choice brings about economic and technological benefits. Consequently, we urge governments to incorporate a “running code” requirement when adopting an open standards policy.