Corporate Money and Politics

The fact that corporate money is seeking to influence public policy is nothing unusual. From the different ways of how private money helps to shape politics the first, and most familiar is direct campaign contributions to political candidates and parties, which is especially widespread in the United States. While the second great river of money goes to underwrite lobbying apparatus in diverse state capitals, the third form of attempts to influence public policy making is less well-known, but nearly as wide and deep as the two others - it is money which underwrites a vast network of public policy think tanks and advocacy groups. Although tried to be labeled in another way, unmistakably, these donations are naked attempts by corporations and other donors, to influence the political process.

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Dissemination Strategies

Think tanks undertake research in very specific public policy areas. Which topics they cover mainly depends on their political and ideological orientation. In any case think tanks produce incredible amounts of "research findings". The crucial aspect usually is not their production, but their distribution. Therefore most think tanks have developed sophisticated dissemination strategies, whose main aim is the communication of their ideas to important audiences. These include members of governmental institutions, policymakers in the executive branch, news media, intellectuals, business men as well as academic and policy communities - in short, everybody, who is involved in shaping public opinion.

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The Microsoft Case

Shortly after Microsoft was faced with federal antitrust charges, full-page newspaper ads supporting Microsoft's claim of innocence were run by the Independent Institute. The ads took the form of a letter signed by 240 academic experts and purported to be a scholarly, unbiased view of why the government had gone overboard in its case against the company. According to an article published in the New York Times, Microsoft had not paid for the ads, but was in fact the single largest donor to the Independent Institute, a conservative organization, that has been a leading defender of the company since it first came under fire from federal prosecutors.

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RAND

RAND (an acronym for research and development) is a non-profit institution that tries to "improve public policy through research and analysis". RAND was created at the urging of its original sponsor, the Air Force (then the Army Air Forces) and employs more than 500 people. Most work in RAND's Santa Monica, California headquarters, others are based in Washington, D.C. Some operate from RAND's Council for Aid to Education in New York City and from RAND Europe in Delft, the Netherlands. Areas of research are: Foreign relations and diplomacy, security and defense, economic issues, regional studies, social issues, health and welfare, education, labor and human resource development, science and technology.

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Artificial Intelligence

Artificial Intelligence is concerned with the simulation of human thinking and emotions in information technology. AI develops "intelligent systems" capable, for example, of learning and logical deduction. AI systems are used for creatively handling large amounts of data (as in data mining), as well as in natural speech processing and image recognition. AI is also used as to support decision taking in highly complex environments.
Yahoo AI sites: http://dir.yahoo.com/Science/Computer_Science/Artificial_Intelligence/
MIT AI lab: http://www.ai.mit.edu/


http://dir.yahoo.com/Science/Computer_Science...
http://www.ai.mit.edu/
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Apple

Founded by Steve Jobs and Steve Wozniak and headquartered in Cupertino, USA, Apple Computer was the first commercially successful personal computer company.

In 1978 Wozniak invented the first personal computer, the Apple II. IBM countered its successful introduction to the market by introducing a personal computer running MS-DOS, the operating system supplied by Microsoft Corporation. And IBM gained leadership again. Although by introducing the first graphical user interface affordable to consumers having started the desktop publishing revolution, Apple could not regain leadership again.

http://www.apple.com

For more detailed information see the Encyclopaedia Britannica: http://www.britannica.com/bcom/eb/article/6/0,5716,115726+1+108787,00.html

http://www.apple.com/
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Open Systems Interconnection (OSI)

Open Systems Interconnection (OSI) is a standard reference model for communication between two end users in a network. It is used in developing products and understanding networks.

Source: Whatis.com

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PGP

A cryptographic software application that was developed by Phil Zimmerman at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology. Pretty Good Privacy (PGP) is a cryptographic product family that enables people to securely exchange messages, and to secure files, disk volumes and network connections with both privacy and strong authentication.

INDEXCARD, 5/11
 
Cookie

A cookie is an information package assigned to a client program (mostly a Web browser) by a server. The cookie is saved on your hard disk and is sent back each time this server is accessed. The cookie can contain various information: preferences for site access, identifying authorized users, or tracking visits.

In online advertising, cookies serve the purpose of changing advertising banners between visits, or identifying a particular direct marketing strategy based on a user's preferences and responses.

Advertising banners can be permanently eliminated from the screen by filtering software as offered by Naviscope or Webwash

Cookies are usually stored in a separate file of the browser, and can be erased or permanently deactivated, although many web sites require cookies to be active.

http://www.naviscope.com/
http://www.webwash.com/
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Automation

Automation is concerned with the application of machines to tasks once performed by humans or, increasingly, to tasks that would otherwise be impossible. Although the term mechanization is often used to refer to the simple replacement of human labor by machines, automation generally implies the integration of machines into a self-governing system. Automation has revolutionized those areas in which it has been introduced, and there is scarcely an aspect of modern life that has been unaffected by it. Nearly all industrial installations of automation, and in particular robotics, involve a replacement of human labor by an automated system. Therefore, one of the direct effects of automation in factory operations is the dislocation of human labor from the workplace. The long-term effects of automation on employment and unemployment rates are debatable. Most studies in this area have been controversial and inconclusive. As of the early 1990s, there were fewer than 100,000 robots installed in American factories, compared with a total work force of more than 100 million persons, about 20 million of whom work in factories.

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Computer programming language

A computer programming language is any of various languages for expressing a set of detailed instructions for a digital computer. Such a language consists of characters and rules for combining them into symbols and words.

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International Chamber of Commerce

The International Chamber of Commerce (ICC) is the world business organization, the only representative body that speaks with authority on behalf of enterprises from all sectors in every part of the world. ICC promotes an open international trade and investment system and the market economy. Its conviction that trade is a powerful force for peace and prosperity dates from the organization's origins early in the century. The small group of business leaders who founded the ICC called themselves "the merchants of peace".

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Sun Microsystems

Founded in 1982 and headquartered in Palo Alto, USA, Sun Microsystems manufactures computer workstations, servers, and software.

http://www.sun.com

For more detailed information see the Encyclopaedia Britannica: http://www.britannica.com/bcom/eb/article/9/0,5716,108249+1+105909,00.html .

http://www.sun.com/
http://www.britannica.com/bcom/eb/article/9/0...
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Wide Area Network (WAN)

A Wide Area Network is a wide area proprietary network or a network of local area networks. Usually consisting of computers, it may consist of cellular phones, too.

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