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Abstract
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 Apple's 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.
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Acknowledgements
The authors would like to thank Matthew Kramer, Betsy Palathinkal, and Shyama Sridharan for their research assistance. The authors would also like to thank Greg Vetter, for his useful comments and suggestions.
Notes
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.
Apple initially did not know the experts were in favor of turning on the firewall by default. Apple only discovered this after they released AE. The controversy over security after the release of AE led Apple to ask the IETF to clarify their position on incoming traffic.