Millions of people around the world live surrounded by information and information technologies. They expect to hear the news on the radio, enjoy entertainment programming on the television, purchase any book in print, and find a website on the Internet. They expect their homes to contain televisions, cable, videocassette recorders, compact discs, answering machines, fax machines, telephones, personal computers, and satellite dishes. Many work in occupations where they produce and distribute information that is of value to consumers and businesses. In other words, the lives of hundreds of millions—perhaps even billions—of people depend on information. On a typical morning, families around the world will turn on the radio to hear the news, read the morning paper, watch the weather channel on cable, make a telephone call, and gather office reports and schoolbooks—all before anyone leaves the house. In fact, they are so used to this...