Political, economic, social and human factors determine the success of information technology. Is computing ushering in an age of “Big Brother” or a new era of electronic democracy? Does computing pose a dangerous threat to privacy, computer crime, gender inequity, disemployment? These pressing issues, in the context of efforts to develop a national public policy for information technology, are addressed in Garson's book Computer Technology and Social Issues.
This book addresses issues of proliferation of technology use and how it has affected users in every aspect of life. This is not a book for those who wish to define computing solely on technological terms. Nor, is it a book for those who wish to embrace only a utopian view of where computing is taking us as a society.