Technology does not invite a close examination of its own consequences because of its lengthy, intimate, and inevitable relationship with culture. In particular, the Internet has delivered mixed blessings despite extravagent claims that it has revolutionized our lives and world. Issues concerning ethics and professionalism, privacy, autonomy, free speech, and ethics have often been recognized but rarely receive the careful analysis and illumination they deserve. Most of this Third Edition of The Social Impact of Computers is a study in the success of the computer in its incredibly wide variety of forms and applications. Its new chapters and reorganized material from the previous editions keeps its coverage of these issues appropriate and relevant.

Richard Rosenberg has been instrumental in developing national and international privacy policies, particularly with respect to electronic media, as well as national and international approaches to free speech on the Internet. Professor of Computer Science at Dalhousie University, he received his Ph.D. from the University of Michigan.

* New chapters on free speech, intellectual property rights, and computer crime and security
* Revised chapter on the information society
* Two revised chapters on the government, including an analysis of the Microsoft antitrust case