The prediction, in brief:

Computerized data banks empower bureaucratic authorities by providing easy access to personal information – about credit ratings, school performance, housing, medical histories, and tax status. And in the future, they will no doubt allow access to genetic profiles, providing information about our predisposition to certain diseases or behavioral conditions. Such information may be available to employers, insurers, product advertisers, banks, school systems, university tenure committees, and other institutions that exercise enormous control over our lives. Indeed, given its social impact, computerization could well be called the ‘cursor’ of our time.

Predictor: Nelkin, Dorothy

Prediction, in context:

The 1997 book “Computers, Ethics, and Society,” edited by M. David Ermann, Mary B. Williams and Michele S. Shauf, carries a reprint of Spring 1994, National Forum: The Phi Kappa Phi Journal article “Information Technologies Could Threaten Privacy, Freedom, and Democracy” by Dorothy Nelkin. Nelkin asserts that Americans are less protective of their privacy rights than they claim to be. She writes: ”Computerized data banks empower bureaucratic authorities by providing easy access to personal information – about credit ratings, school performance, housing, medical histories, and tax status. And in the future, they will no doubt allow access to genetic profiles, providing information about our predisposition to certain diseases or behavioral conditions. Such information may be available to employers, insurers, product advertisers, banks, school systems, university tenure committees, and other institutions that exercise enormous control over our lives. Indeed, given its social impact, computerization could well be called the ‘cursor’ of our time.”

Date of prediction: January 1, 1994

Topic of prediction: Controversial Issues

Subtopic: Privacy/Surveillance

Name of publication: Computers, Ethics, and Society (book)

Title, headline, chapter name: Information Technologies Could Threaten Privacy, Freedom, and Democracy

Quote Type: Direct quote

Page number or URL of document at time of study:
Page 21

This data was logged into the Elon/Pew Predictions Database by: Guarino, Jennifer Anne