Policies provide a context of rules and methods to guide how large organizations meet their responsibilities.
From a technological perspective, Thomas Jefferson (1816) noted that laws and institutions must keep pace with the progress of the human mind.
Negroponte (1997) uses a metaphor of limiting the freedom of bit radiation is like the Romans attempting to stop Christianity, even though early data broadcasters may be eaten by Washington lions.
Brown (1997) questions whether it will even be possible for governments to monitor compliance with regulations in the face of exponentially increasing encrypted traffic within private networks.
From an organizational perspective, Simard (2000) states that "if traditional policies are applied directly [to a digital environment], the Canadian Forest Service could become marginalized in a dynamic knowledge-based economy."