Aims and Scope
Aims
- helping to make computer professionals and systems designers and others aware of the social consequences of their work,
- developing criteria to determine how well the public is served when it comes into contact with computerized systems,
- enabling and encouraging designers and users of computer systems to make a human choice, i.e., a choice which takes into account human needs and wishes.
Scope
Those aspects of computers which affect the public interest. Among these are:
- ethical issues arising out of the use of computers,
- the freedom of access to information, as well as the right to privacy and to the protection of sensitive data,
- shifts in the balance of power arising out of the use of computers,
- the effects of computers in public and private organisations,
- education of the public about computers, and of computer professionals about the effects of their work.