Published at LXer:

There I was, testifying before a phalanx of lawmakers about infrastructure. But they weren't asking me about bridges and tunnels. They were quizzing me about a different kind of undergirding: the electronic variety. They wanted to know how society can guarantee the compatibility of computers--and the electronic information they contain--across time, continents, companies and countries. For the first time in memory, technology standards have become a discussion topic at legislative hearings, on the U.S. presidential campaign trail and at E.U. regulatory meetings. Why the scrutiny? Shouldn't we trust that computer companies will always have the public interest at heart? Won't we always be able to open and read electronic documents?

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