The Board on Science, Technology, and Economic Policy (STEP) is charged with integrating "understanding of scientific, technological, and economic elements in the formulation of national policies." The website highlights recent projects, including Intellectual Property Rights in the Knowledge-Based Economy, Government-Industry Partnerships for the Development of New Technologies, Tracking...

The first thing a visitor sees when arriving at the title page to the Brookings Essay, "The Big Snoop," are six chilling words: "Some data we see about you." Beneath that, the site lists your ip address, hostname, city, region, postal code, the browser you're using, your time on the page, scroll depth, and what operating system you're running on what kind of computer. That's a good introduction to...