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