Computer Professionals for Social Responsibility

CPSR is a public-interest alliance of people concerned about the impact of information and communications technology on society. CPSR works to influence decisions regarding the development and use of computers because those decisions have far-reaching consequences and reflect our basic values and priorities. As experts on ICT issues, CPSR members provide realistic assessments of the power, promise, and limitations of computer technology. As concerned citizens, they direct public attention to critical choices concerning the applications of computing and how those choices affect society.

Educational organization of computer professionals concerned about society's use of computer technology in the arms race and nuclear war.

Computer Professionals for Social Responsibility (CPSR) began as a discussion group concerned with the increasing threat of nuclear war on a computer message network at a research center in Palo Alto, California in October 1981. An organizational meeting was held in June 1982, and CPSR was incorporated in March 1983. CPSR's first annual report states "our primary concern is the increasing role that computers play in the arms race and the ways in which their misuse might increase the threat of nuclear war."