Computer scientists whose scientific freedom and human rights have been violated: a report of the ACM committee on scientific freedom and human rights

This report had its genesis before the establishment in February 1980 of the Committee on Scientific Freedom and Human Rights (CSFHR). In 1978 Paul Armer, chairman of the Committee on Computers and Public Policy (CCPP), asked Jack Minker of the University of Maryland to chair a Subcommittee on Human Rights and to prepare a report on the human rights of computer scientists. When CSFHR was formed it was natural to transfer this activity to it since one of the activities of CSFHR, as specified in its charter, is:

Gathering data on systematic violations of scientific freedom and human rights and fully publicizing such data.… Careful attention will be given to assuring the validity of all data.