A major problem is how to protect individual privacy while providing necessary information. More research is needed on database security so that individuals accessing databases can easily obtain the information for which they are authorized, but cannot obtain other information.
Predictor: Simons, Barbara
Prediction, in context:In a 1991 article for Communciations of the ACM, Barbara Simons, secretary for the Association for Computing Machinery and a computer science researcher for IBM, writes: ”Landing people on the moon was a grand challenge of the 1960s, one that showed how the grand-challenge approach can be successful. But the benefits of a grand challenge must outweigh its costs … the High-Performance Computing Initiative is another current example that combines the grand challenge and technology-base approaches. A primary justification for the initiative is the anticipated economic benefit … A major problem is how to protect individual privacy while providing necessary information. More research is needed on database security so that individuals accessing databases can easily obtain the information for which they are authorized, but cannot obtain other information.”
Biography:Barbara Simons was a 1990s leader in technology-policy issues. She founded and chaired the Association for Computing Machinery’s U.S. Technology Policy Committee (USACM) and was ACM secretary from 1990 to 1992, prior to which she chaired the ACM Committee on Scientific Freedom and Human Rights. (Research Scientist/Illuminator.)
Date of prediction: October 1, 1991
Topic of prediction: Communication
Subtopic: Security/Encryption
Name of publication: Communications of the ACM - Association for Computing Machinery
Title, headline, chapter name: Communication and Information
Quote Type: Direct quote
Page number or URL of document at time of study:
Vol. 34, Issue 10, Pages 124, 125
This data was logged into the Elon/Pew Predictions Database by: Stewart, Ben L.