About this Item
X, 189 Pp. Red Cloth, Gilt. Near Fine, Spine Gilt Dulled But Present, Immaculate, Hinges Tight. Mit Bookplate Of Computer Pioneer Willis H Ware, With His Completed 1943 Reply To Mit To Update His Address, Signed By Him At End. Ware Graduated From Mit In 1942 And Was Then Working At The Haseltine Corporation, Prior To His Pioneering Work On Computers. Ware?S Participation In A Classified World War Ii Project To Identify Friendly Aircraft Led The Mathematician John Von Neumann To Recruit Him To Help Develop A Computer At The Institute For Advanced Study In Princeton, N.J., In 1946. That Machine Was Not The First Digital Computer, But It Was Based On A Set Of Design Ideas Described By Dr. Von Neumann That Were Broadly Influential ? First On The Design Of Computers Built By Scientists Around The World, And Then On An Early Ibm Computer Known As The 701. Many Of These Concepts Are Still Visible In The Structure Of Modern Computers And Smartphones. Mr. Ware, Part Of A Small Group Of Engineers Working On That Machine, Was The First To Try To Engineer Many Of The Components That Would Become Vital To Modern Computers. His Experience In Designing High-Speed Electronic Circuits During The War Was Essential To His Work On The Computer At The Institute For Advanced Study, Said George Dyson, A Historian Of The Project. Moving To Los Angeles, He Worked For North American Aviation And Joined Rand In 1952. There He Managed The Department Where The Engineer Paul Baran Did Early Work On Packet-Switching, A Technology That Was The Basis For The Internet. Mr. Ware, Who Worked At The Rand Corporation For More Than 55 Years, Was One Of The First People To Gain A Prescient View Of The Effect Computers Were Having On Society, In Their Impact On Automation And The Threats They Posed To Privacy. ?The Computer Will Touch Men Everywhere And In Every Way, Almost On A Minute-To-Minute Basis,? He Wrote In 1966. ?Every Man Will Communicate Through A Computer, Whatever He Does. It Will Change And Reshape His Life, Modify His Career And Force Him To Accept A Life Of Continuous Change.? While At Rand, Mr. Ware Led An Early Pentagon Study Exploring Computer Security. Afterward He Was Asked By The Secretary Of Commerce, To Lead A Committee To Address ?Personal Privacy? In The Computer Era. Some Of Its Policy Recommendations Were Adopted In The Privacy Act Of 1974. Among Other Problems, The Committee Dealt With The Increasing Reliance On ?Universal Identifiers? Like Social Security Numbers. ?Willis Ware Laid The Foundation For Modern Privacy Law. His Insight Was That In The Computer Age, Organizations That Collected Private Information Would Have To Take Responsibility, And Individuals Who Gave Up Personal Information Would Need To Get Rights.?.
Seller Inventory # 029682
Contact seller
Report this item
