We are at the cusp of a technological revolution, one where technologists master the special physics of the smallest particles, promising to provide capabilities that are, somewhat paradoxically, extraordinarily large.

Quantum information science is the merger of quantum physics and information theory. Law and Policy for the Quantum Age explains the genesis of these theories and the resulting quantum technologies that are so exciting today: quantum sensing, quantum computing, and quantum communication.

Quantum technologies are poised to change our lives. Nation states are pouring billions into basic research. Companies operate secretive, moon-shot research labs seeking to build quantum computers. Militaries and intelligence agencies operate ambitious research projects to monitor adversaries.

What will quantum technologies mean for people? Are they “winner take all” technologies where one nation—and its industrial base—will be the anchor point for a revolution as powerful as the personal computer or the internet?

Tomorrow’s likely developments in QIS will have consequences for how we will measure and sense the world, for how we will communicate, and for how computing will work. This book starts a dialogue anticipating their consequences and seeding a policy approach for the quantum age.

Book by Chris Jay Hoofnagle & Simson L. Garfinkel (Cambridge University Press (Jan. 2022))

Simson L. Garfinkel is a pioneer in digital forensics, with a career in technology spanning starting a local internet service provider in 1995 to academia and government service. Garfinkel holds a Ph.D. in computer science from the Massachusetts Institute of Technology, was a tenured professor of computer science at the Naval Postgraduate School, and now is a Senior Data Scientist at the U.S. Department of Homeland Security, a part-time faculty member at the George Washington University in Washington, DC, and a member of the Association for Computing Machinery’s US Technology Policy Committee (ACM USTPC). He has authored and edited 16 books, over 100 scholarly articles, and is a fellow of both the ACM and the Institute of Electrical and Electronics Engineers (IEEE). This book is written in Simson Garfinkel’s personal capacity and does not reflect the views or policy of the U.S. Government, the U.S. Department of Homeland Security, the U.S. Department of Commerce, or the U.S. Census Bureau.

Chris Jay Hoofnagle is professor of law in residence at the University of California, Berkeley, a Professor of Practice in the School of Information, and affiliated faculty with the Simons Institute for the Theory of Computing. He is an elected member of the American Law Institute, and author of Federal Trade Commission Privacy Law and Policy (Cambridge University Press 2016). Hoofnagle is of counsel to Gunderson Dettmer Stough Villeneuve Franklin & Hachigian, LLP, and serves on boards for Constella Intelligence and Palantir Technologies.