  Communication technologies contain embedded values that affect our society's
fundamental values, such as privacy, freedom of speech, and the protection of
intellectual property. Researchers have shown the design of technologies is not
autonomous but shaped by conflicting social groups. Consequently, communication
technologies contain different values when designed by different social groups.
Continuing in this vein, we show that the institutions where communication
technologies are designed and developed are an important source of the values
of communication technologies. We use the term code to collectively refer to
the hardware and software of communication technologies. Institutions differ in
their motivations, structure, and susceptibility to external influences. First,
we focus on the political, economic, social, and legal influences during the
development of code. The institutional reactions to these influences are
embodied in code. Second, we focus on the decision-making issues in the review
process for code. This process determines the code's content and affects the
dissemination of code through the decision whether to publicly release the
code. We found these factors vary by institution. As a result, institutions
differ in the values that they incorporate into code or communications
technologies.
