A driver’s license is no longer just a document allowing you to drive a car. Computer-connected departments of motor vehicles, under the direction of state legislatures, have begun to use drivers’ licenses as instruments of social control and information sharing. In Wisconsin, a court can suspend a driver’s license for nonpayment of any fine, and that includes library fines … Is it ethical to restrict public information that is being re-massaged? In some cases, I would argue yes … Because technology typically outpaces debate on the social impact it is reasonable to ratchet up the effort to create and implement some new guidelines.
Predictor: Hausman, Carl
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 the 1994 Journal of Mass Media Ethics article “Your ‘Private’ Information May Be Public Property” by Carl Hausman. Hausman suggests that the right to privacy must be reevaluated. He writes: ”The evolution of the computer has brought about … a fundamental ecological change in the nature of information. Information with a computer is part of a different world than would otherwise exist if there were no computer. In short, the information assumes other characteristics. For example, a driver’s license is no longer just a document allowing you to drive a car. Computer-connected departments of motor vehicles, under the direction of state legislatures, have begun to use drivers’ licenses as instruments of social control and information sharing. In Wisconsin, a court can suspend a driver’s license for nonpayment of any fine, and that includes library fines … Is it ethical to restrict public information that is being re-massaged? In some cases, I would argue yes … Because technology typically outpaces debate on the social impact it is reasonable to ratchet up the effort to create and implement some new guidelines.”
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: Your “Private” Information May Be Public Property
Quote Type: Direct quote
Page number or URL of document at time of study:
Pages 94-96
This data was logged into the Elon/Pew Predictions Database by: Guarino, Jennifer Anne