Information

The information sector comprises establishments engaged in the following processes: producing and distributing information and cultural products, providing the means to transmit or distribute these products as well as data or communications, and processing data.

The main components of this sector are the publishing industries, including software publishing, traditional publishing, and publishing exclusively on the Internet; the motion picture and sound recording industries; the broadcasting industries, including traditional broadcasting and those broadcasting exclusively over the Internet; the telecommunications industries; the industries known as Internet service providers and Web search portals; data processing industries; and the information services industries.

The information sector has three types of establishments: those engaged in producing and distributing information and cultural products, those that provide the means to transmit or distribute these products as well as data or communications, and those that process data. Cultural products are those that directly express attitudes, opinions, ideas, values, and artistic creativity; provide entertainment; or offer information and analysis concerning the past and present. Included in this definition are popular mass-produced products as well as cultural products that normally have a more limited audience, such as poetry books, literary magazines, or classical records.

Many of the industries in the information sector are engaged in producing products protected by copyright law, or in distributing them via other means than traditional wholesale and retail methods. Examples are traditional publishing industries, software and directory and mailing list publishing industries, and film and sound industries. Broadcasting and telecommunications industries and information providers and processors are also included in the information sector, because their technologies are so closely linked to other industries in the information sector.