Computer Professionals for Social Responsibility (CPSR) was a global organization promoting the responsible use of computer technology. CPSR was incorporated in 1983 following discussions and organizing that began in 1981. It educated policymakers and the public on a wide range of issues. CPSR incubated numerous projects such as Privaterra, the Public Sphere Project, the

Electronic Privacy Information Center The Electronic Privacy Information Center (EPIC) is an independent nonprofit research center established in 1994 to protect privacy, freedom of expression, and democratic values in the information age. Based in Washington, D.C., their mission i ...

, the 21st Century Project, the Civil Society Project, and the Computers, Freedom and Privacy Conference. Founded by U.S. computer scientists at

Stanford University Leland Stanford Junior University, commonly referred to as Stanford University, is a Private university, private research university in Stanford, California, United States. It was founded in 1885 by railroad magnate Leland Stanford (the eighth ...

and

Xerox Xerox Holdings Corporation (, ) is an American corporation that sells print and electronic document, digital document products and services in more than 160 countries. Xerox was the pioneer of the photocopier market, beginning with the introduc ...

PARC, CPSR had members in over 30 countries on six continents. CPSR was a non-profit 501.c.3 organization registered in California. When CPSR was established, it was concerned solely about the use of computers in warfare. It was focused on the Strategic Computing Initiative, a US Defense project to use

artificial intelligence Artificial intelligence (AI) is the capability of computer, computational systems to perform tasks typically associated with human intelligence, such as learning, reasoning, problem-solving, perception, and decision-making. It is a field of re ...

in military systems, but added opposition to the

Strategic Defense Initiative The Strategic Defense Initiative (SDI) was a proposed missile defense system intended to protect the United States from attack by ballistic nuclear missiles. The program was announced in 1983, by President Ronald Reagan. Reagan called for a ...

(SDI) shortly after the program was announced. The Boston chapter helped organize a debate related to the software reliability of SDI systems which drew national attention ("Software Seen as Obstacle in Developing 'Star Wars', Philip M. Boffey, (''The New York Times'', September 16, 1986) to these issues. Later, workplace issues, privacy, and community networks were added to CPSR's agenda. CPSR began as a chapter-based organization and had chapters in Palo Alto, Boston, Seattle, Austin, Washington DC, Portland (Oregon) and other US locations as well as a variety of international chapters including Peru and Spain. The chapters often developed innovative projects including a slide show about the dangers of launch on warning (Boston chapter) and the Seattle Community Network (Seattle chapter). CPSR sponsored two conferences: the Participatory Design Conferences which was held biennially and the Directions and Implications of Advanced Computing (DIAC) symposium series which was launched in 1987 in Seattle. The DIAC symposia have been convened roughly every other year since that time. Four books (''Directions and Implications of Advanced Computing''; ''Reinventing Technology, Rediscovering Community''; ''Community Practice in the Network Society''; ''Shaping the Network Society''; "Liberating Voices: A Pattern Language for Communication Revolution") and two special sections in the

Communications of the ACM ''Communications of the ACM'' (''CACM'') is the monthly journal of the Association for Computing Machinery (ACM). History It was established in 1958, with Saul Rosen as its first managing editor. It is sent to all ACM members. Articles are i ...

("Social Responsibility" and " Social Computing") resulted from the DIAC symposia. CPSR awarded the Norbert Wiener Award for Social and Professional Responsibility. Some notable recipients include

David Parnas David Lorge Parnas (born February 10, 1941) is a Canadian early pioneer of software engineering, who developed the concept of information hiding in modular programming, which is an important element of object-oriented programming today. He is al ...

Joseph Weizenbaum Joseph Weizenbaum (8 January 1923 – 5 March 2008) was a German-American computer scientist and a professor at Massachusetts Institute of Technology, MIT. He is the namesake of the Weizenbaum Award and the Weizenbaum Institute. Life and career ...

, Severo Ornstein,

Kristen Nygaard Kristen Nygaard (27 August 1926 – 10 August 2002) was a Norwegian computer scientist, programming language pioneer, and politician. Internationally, Nygaard is acknowledged as the co-inventor of object-oriented programming and the programming ...

, Barbara Simons, Antonia Stone, Peter G. Neumann, Marc Rotenberg,

Mitch Kapor Mitchell David Kapor ( ; born November 1, 1950) is an American entrepreneur best known for his work as an application developer in the early days of the personal computer software industry, later founding Lotus Software, Lotus, where he was instr ...

, and

Douglas Engelbart Douglas Carl Engelbart (January 30, 1925 – July 2, 2013) was an American engineer, inventor, and a pioneer in many aspects of computer science. He is best known for his work on founding the field of human–computer interaction, particularly ...

. The final award in 2013 went

posthumously Posthumous may refer to: * Posthumous award, an award, prize or medal granted after the recipient's death * Posthumous publication, publishing of creative work after the author's death * Posthumous (album), ''Posthumous'' (album), by Warne Marsh, 1 ...

to the organisation's first executive director, Gary Chapman. Since CPSR's dissolution, the IEEE Society on Social Implications of Technology (SSIT)is now making the Norbert Weiner awards. There's a debate about holding computer professionals accountable for unforeseen negative consequences of their work. However, some believe that most computer-related disasters can be prevented through a deeper understanding of professional responsibility.Stieb, James A. "A critique of positive responsibility in computing." ''Science and Engineering Ethics'' 14 (2008): 219-233. The organization was dissolved in May 2013.

References

External links

Computer Professionals for Social Responsibility

* ttp://purl.umn.edu/40803 Computer Professionals for Social Responsibility Records, 1983–1991.

Charles Babbage Institute The IT History Society (ITHS) is an organization that supports the history and scholarship of information technology by encouraging, fostering, and facilitating archival and historical research. Formerly known as the Charles Babbage Foundation, ...

, University of Minnesota.
Oral history interview with Severo Ornstein and Laura Gould

, University of Minnesota. Oral history interview by Bruce Bruemmer, 1994, discussing the formation and activities of Computer Professionals for Social Responsibility. {{Authority control Computing and society Information technology organizations Organizations established in 1981 Organizations disestablished in 2013 Privacy in the United States