In the United States air traffic control is heavily regulated, and as a consequence the technology used is straight out of the 1970s - moving about little scraps of paper. In Canada, on the other hand (apparently we're more economically free than the US? http://www.heritage.org/index/ ) there is less regulation, and the entire process is computerized.

No; ATC is completely computerized en-route, and heavily computerized at control towers. Directions given by voice are being transitioned to directions given via texts. I've done work for NASA in that area. (FAA uses NASA to do ATC research for historical reasons, basically as a way not to have to fire a bunch of people after the moon landings.)

I have seen the strips of paper for tracking flight plans... I don't remember if they still use those. I won't swear that they don't. But it wouldn't make any sense, as all that information is in the computer.

It is not, however, autonomous. There are still humans in the loop, which is a terrible safety hazard. Every year, air traffic controllers make over 10,000 errors serious enough to be logged and investigated. Of course, one mistake made by a computer is much more horrible and newsworthy than 10,000 comparable mistakes made by humans.