On the future computer era modification of the American character and the role of the engineer, or, a little caution in the haste to number (1968)

One of numerous papers by networking pioneer Paul Baran, at RAND.

A warning that unintended but disastrous effects on society have resulted from improved and computerized recordkeeping, owing to (1) the habit of limiting the number of variables considered to those easily quantified, (2) the tendency to use records and scores instead of judgment, and (3) the use of information to maximize private profit without regard to the damage inflicted by everybody doing this at once. Using computers, loan and insurance companies screen out the highest-risk groups. Fire or burglary insurance cannot be obtained in areas where business development is most needed. Many people are rendered uninsurable and/or unemployable on the basis of health, education, or past failures or infractions that former generations would have successfully concealed. What future have the 40 percent of all urban youth (90 percent Negro) who will have some brush with the law, when an arrest record bars them forever? Those who understand technology have an obligation to lift their eyes from minimizing subsystem costs and at least be an early warning system for the rest of society.

Paul Baran was hugely influential, and pretty much came up with the idea of decentralised switched-packet routing. What impresses me is how thoughtful and concerned he was about social implications.

See also:

• On Distributed Communications: I. Introduction to Distributed Communications Networks. First of an 11-part series essentially designing what became the Internet.
• On the Engineer's Responsibility in Protecting Privacy (sadly not yet downloadable).
• Some Changes in Information Technology Affecting Marketing in the Year 2000
• Some Caveats on the Contribution of Technology to Law Enforcement

And many more.

Kudos to RAND for making most of these freely available.