Guides by Level of Government
Topic Guides
LEGISATIVE BRANCH GOVERNMENT DOCUMENTS
Use the Proquest Congressional database to find transcripts of legislative hearings and committee reports on disruptive technologies. The purpose of such hearings is to gather facts and communicate recommendations to Congress for new or updated legislation. Below are a few examples of reports discoverable through this database. Also try GovInfo, a freely available federal database that covers some of the same content as Proquest Congressional.
A search for "IoT"or "Internet of things" in this database retrieves nearly 24,000 results. Of particular interest is the Law Journal Library collection, which provides discussion showing how existing laws and regulations are addressing technological innovations.
EXECUTIVE BRANCH GOVERNMENT DOCUMENTS
PATENTS AND INTELLECTUAL PROPERTY
Patent documents describe in detail technological innovations in order to legally prevent others from copying and profiting from the invention. Patent documents include detailed claims and drawings. Here is an example of a patent titled Clustering Devices in an Internet of Things. All U.S. patents are freely available online, and millions more foreign patents are searchable on Espacenet.