Abstract

The Computer vs. the Bill of Rights

The right of privacy is in trouble again. Tormented in the last few years by electronic eavesdropping devices, federal psychological tests and peepholes in post-office washrooms, it now faces an even more formidable adversary in the Bureau of the Budget's proposed National Data Center. The lead-off witness on behalf of the proposed National Data Center was Raymond T. Bowman, assistant director of the Office of Statistical Standards and described by representative Cornelius E. Gallagher as the man "directly responsible" for the project. Bowman testified that the data center's objective is twofold. To demonstrate the long-standing practice, he said that the use of federal tax returns as a source of statistical information.